Marine Le Pen suffered her third presidential defeat on Sunday, but with a historically high score for the far right, which should remain a dominant force in the opposition to Emmanuel Macron.
The National Rally candidate gathered around 42% of the votes according to estimates, or about 8 points more than in 2017, when she had already faced the same opponent.
“The ideas that we represent reach new heights” and “the result of this evening represents in itself a brilliant victory”, estimated Marine Le Pen from the pavilion of Armenonville, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, where was organized his election night.
She assured that she would “continue (her) political commitment” and called for the “battle” of the legislative elections in June “with all those who had the courage to oppose Emmanuel Macron in the second round” and “who have the France pegged to the body”.
She herself should stand for re-election in Pas-de-Calais, the acting president of the RN, Jordan Bardella, said on TF1.
“Marine, marine,” shouted his supporters, who booed Emmanuel Macron when his face appeared on the screens. Some are furious, others moved.
Olivier Monde, a 62-year-old nurse, is upset: “The French are going to get what they deserve, five years of additional hassle”.
“Bipolarization”
“It’s a great victory to snatch a second round when there was Eric Zemmour”, who gathered 7% of the votes, “the bipolarization is confirmed”, estimated Philippe Olivier, brother-in-law and close adviser to Marine Le Pen.
Overseas, where the RN candidate came largely in the lead, “the demonization does not seem to have taken”, according to him.
“Alas, this is the eighth time that the defeat has struck the name of Le Pen,” attacked his rival Eric Zemmour, who had continued during the campaign to say that the RN candidate would never win.
However, he called on the “national bloc” to unite for the legislative elections, while Marine Le Pen on her side rather ignored the Reconquest candidate! between the two towers.
To reach these altitudes and hoist the far-right party for the third time in the second round of the presidential election (after 2002 and 2017), Marine Le Pen greatly “demonized” her image during the campaign in order to “reassure”. And focused on purchasing power, pushing her controversial plans against immigration and Islamism to the background.
But between the two rounds, Marine Le Pen had to explain herself in more detail about her proposals and did not benefit from the “radicality” of Eric Zemmour, rival but also “lightning rod” which made her appear as “recentered” .
Chief Opponent
If this is indeed his last presidential campaign, as Marine Le Pen herself had suggested, the question of his future and that of his party will quickly arise.
Laurent Jacobelli, one of its spokespersons, thinks that with around 42% of the votes “we can no longer speak” of a glass ceiling, because it has “progressed in many categories”.
As for the RN, Marine Le Pen entrusted the reins to her faithful lieutenant Jordan Bardella during the campaign.
“The fate of this party is perhaps to be, like the Italian MSI (former fascist party) for decades, the pole excluded from political life”, advances political scientist Jean-Yves Camus.
Either a political family which “collects a considerable percentage of votes, which infuses into society but which will never come to power because it has no allies” and risks obtaining few elected representatives in the legislative elections with a two-round majority vote. The RN currently has 6 deputies.
The RN was also “born on the far right, it still repels people”, according to this specialist, while its mode of operation has been criticized internally.
For political scientist Pascal Perrineau, after a third defeat, the electorate “can get tired and look elsewhere” but “in the landscape of very fragmented oppositions”, Marine Le Pen occupies “the dominant position” and “will remain the leader”. ‘chief opponent’.