A powerful surge of support for extremist candidates in France’s election has left President Emmanuel Macron and his centrist party isolated as the country’s only mainstream political force.
Early soundings on second-round voting intentions suggested Mr Macron would secure a second five-year term in the decider on April 24 but by a potentially vulnerable margin of 54-46, down from his thumping 66 per cent lead five years ago.
After decades of dominance, until Mr Macron cruised to victory in 2017, the traditional parties of left and right have been reduced to minor also-ran status as more than 20 million people voted for contenders from the extremes.
The first round of voting on Sunday quickly turned into a three-horse race with the president leading on 27.6 per cent, a little more than four points ahead of Marine Le Pen, leader of the populist, anti-immigration National Rally.
Close behind her was Jean-Luc Melenchon from the far-left La France Insoumise (France Unbowed), who at one point rose in estimates to within 0.8 per cent of overtaking her.
With all but a handful of overseas votes counted, Mr Melenchon looked set to finish on fractionally less than 22 per cent, 1.46 per cent lower than Ms Le Pen’s tally.
Another extreme right-winger, Eric Zemmour, whose impact flagged after an explosive entry into the campaign, won only 7 per cent. But taking account of minor candidates, broadly anti-system contenders of far left and right took nearly 56 per cent of the poll.
In large numbers, voters ignored the stigma of extremism and registered deep discontent at issues ranging from the cost-of-living crisis – central to the campaign amid soaring rises in the price of fuel, energy and food – to immigration and security.
Valerie Pecresse and Anne Hidalgo, heavyweight local government leaders and respectively the French equivalents of British Conservative and Labour challengers, suffered humiliation.
Ms Pecresse, the Gaullist centre-right president of the Paris regional council, polled 4.8 per cent, while Ms Hidalgo, socialist mayor of Paris, managed only 1.7 per cent.
One French analyst described the Parti Socialiste, for whom Francois Hollande was head of state until as recently as 2017, as “clinically dead”. Another, Jacques Reland, a fellow at the London-based think tank Global Policy Institute, had earlier told The National that Ms Pecresse’s campaign was a ”car crash”.
Sizeable no-show at the polls
The outcome was influenced by large-scale abstention, with slightly more than a quarter of the 48.8 million eligible voters choosing to support no one.
Among them, one former Macron supporter, a retired car mechanic, told France Info radio he felt he was being asked to choose between “kids squabbling in the playground, accusing one another of stealing their ideas”; a young Muslim market trader from the Parisian banlieue suspected his vote would change nothing.
The redistribution of votes cast for the 10 eliminated candidates and appeals to non-voters to turn out for the run-off will now be crucial to the final outcome.
Most if not all of Mr Zemmour’s supporters are expected to heed his call to switch allegiance to Ms Le Pen despite fierce clashes between the two during the campaign.
She once dismissed his Reconquest movement as a mixture of “traditionalist Catholics, pagans and a few Nazis”. He, in turn, portrayed himself as the only true candidate of the right and lured high-profile defectors from her camp, including her niece Marion Marechal.
Mr Macron will inevitably pick up extra votes following the appeals of Ms Pecresse, Ms Hidalgo and minor candidates to support him. But their combined clout is weak, handing a decisive role to Mr Melenchon’s seven million supporters.
In a passionate election night speech, Mr Melenchon spoke firmly against voting for Ms Le Pen but stopped well short of suggesting they should back Mr Macron.
The fear for the president is that many working-class, lower-income Melenchon voters see themselves as similar to the “forgotten little people” to whom Ms Le Pen appeals.
In a series of tweets analysing the first-round results, Philippe Marliere, professor of French and European politics at University College London, outlined the threat to Mr Macron.
“If Macron does not engage left-wing voters in between the two rounds … he will lose to Le Pen. This time around, a lot of left-wing voters who are totally exasperated by Macron will abstain. A minority will even vote for Le Pen.”
As Ms Le Pen’s champions insist, and even Mr Macron’s key associates acknowledge, the president’s future is far from secure as campaigning begins for the decider.
Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
More coverage from the Future Forum
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
ADCC AFC Women’s Champions League Group A fixtures
October 3: v Wuhan Jiangda Women’s FC
October 6: v Hyundai Steel Red Angels Women’s FC
October 9: v Sabah FA
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
How much of your income do you need to save?
The more you save, the sooner you can retire. Tuan Phan, a board member of SimplyFI.com, says if you save just 5 per cent of your salary, you can expect to work for another 66 years before you are able to retire without too large a drop in income.
In other words, you will not save enough to retire comfortably. If you save 15 per cent, you can forward to another 43 working years. Up that to 40 per cent of your income, and your remaining working life drops to just 22 years. (see table)
Obviously, this is only a rough guide. How much you save will depend on variables, not least your salary and how much you already have in your pension pot. But it shows what you need to do to achieve financial independence.
House-hunting
Top 10 locations for inquiries from US house hunters, according to Rightmove
- Edinburgh, Scotland
- Westminster, London
- Camden, London
- Glasgow, Scotland
- Islington, London
- Kensington and Chelsea, London
- Highlands, Scotland
- Argyll and Bute, Scotland
- Fife, Scotland
- Tower Hamlets, London
RESULT
Wolves 1 (Traore 67')
Tottenham 2 (Moura 8', Vertonghen 90 1')
Man of the Match: Adama Traore (Wolves)
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
HWJN
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Yasir%20Alyasiri%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarring%3A%20Baraa%20Alem%2C%20Nour%20Alkhadra%2C%20Alanoud%20Saud%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
FIXTURES
Monday, January 28
Iran v Japan, Hazza bin Zayed Stadium (6pm)
Tuesday, January 29
UAEv Qatar, Mohamed Bin Zayed Stadium (6pm)
Friday, February 1
Final, Zayed Sports City Stadium (6pm)
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
RESULTS
Argentina 4 Haiti 0
Peru 2 Scotland 0
Panama 0 Northern Ireland 0
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
