Heading to France’s Election Day May 7, 39-year-old centrist Emmanuel Macron hopes to end the political future of 48-year-old right-wing National Front candidate Marine Le Pen. Former President Barack Obama got into the fray, urging French voters to choose France’s former economy minister Macron over Le Pen, opting for inclusion with France’s growing minority population. Le Pen derives her support from the suburbs, disenfranchised by increased immigrant flows and dramatic acts of terrorism in recent years. President Donald Trump backs Le Pen for her more vigilant approach to immigrants and terrorism, something the Socialist President Francois Hollande let slip through the cracks. Le Pen quipped that no matter who wins tomorrow, one woman will control France, referring to German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Merkel looms large in the French election.
When the U.K. voted June 23, 2016 to exit the European Union, former Independent Party chairman Nigel Farage worked feverishly on the Brexit movement. Farage became Trump’s biggest backer across the pond, euphoric over his Nov. 8, 2016 win over Hillary Clinton. Farage has high hopes that Le Pen will pull off what amounts to an unlikely upset tomorrow over Macron. But, unlike the Brexit vote or U.S. election, rank-and-file French citizens are perfectly content with France’s part in the EU. Le Pen detoured off message running on a France-First platform, seeking at some future point to see France exit the EU. French voters have the most glaring choice in tomorrow’s election: Voting to stay or leave the EU. Macron appeals to France’s socialist voters, looking to the EU for more fringe benefits. Le Pen frightens French voters with talk of leaving the EU.
Unlike the pre-Brexit or U.S. election polls showing a virtual dead heat, Marcon leads Le Pen as of Friday by 63% to 47%. For that trend to reverse itself, a major earthquake would have to take place. Even the data dump of hacked emails from Macron’s campaign won’t be enough to change the outcome. French President Francois Hollande said that any unlawful dissemination of any hacked data on the internet or any other place would be considered a crime by French authorities. “We knew that this kind of risk would be present during the presidential campaign,” said Hollande, warning voters to ignore the leaked data. “The commission stresses that publication or republication of these data . . . could be a criminal offense,” said France’s Election Commission. France’s Le Monde newspaper said it would not publish any of the leaked documents before the May 7 election.
Choosing between Macron and Le Pen is as simple as choosing between the European Union and France. Le Pen tried her best during a May 3 presidential debate to paint Macron as a terrorist sympathizer. With the devastating terror attacks Sept. 13, 2015 in Paris and Saint Denis killing 130, injuring 368, Le Pen hoped to capitalize on voters’ fears. Macron responded to Le Pen’s charges, telling French voters they deserved better than Le Pen. Unlike Le Pen, Macron wants to carry on the legacy of Hollande, expanding economic opportunity to all French citizens. Macron rejects Le Pen’s xenophobic rhetoric, especially about Mideast refugees, whose terrorist cells are responsible in recent years for much of the carnage on French streets. Len Pen tried to move closer to the center, distancing herself from her father’s old anti-immigrant, anti-Semitic National Front Party
With Macron’s highly unusual relationship and marriage to his former French teacher Brigitte Marie-Claude Macron, 24-years his senior, he would have never cut it in a U.S. election. Le Pen never questioned what in the U.S. would have been regarded as child abuse. Le Pen overplayed her hand on pushing for France leave the EU, something out-of-step with the vast majority of French voters. Setting herself as the extremist candidate, Le Pen had difficulty pivoting back to the center, something Macron took in the May 3 debate. French voters saw Le Pen at her worst, not so much because of her views but her shrill presentation. Macron for the most part kept his cool, baiting Le Pen as a backward thinking old-school politician. Macron expressed his support of the EU, believing it was the best direction for France economically, socially, but, more importantly, morally.
Tomorrow’s vote isn’t likely to validate the June 23, 2016 Brexit vote or the election of U.S. President Donald Trump Nov. 8, 2016. French voters will choose the status quo, much of the socialist benefits promised by EU’s utopian vision of European society. Le Pen warns French voters about Chancellor Angela Merkel but the German leader still enjoys popularity in the EU. Le Pen only offered French voters an apocalyptic vision of more Mideast immigrants and terror attacks. Macron promises to get to the bottom and fix France’s problems with its immigrant community, largely shoved into the suburbs to keep problems out of tourist-friendly Paris. There’s really no choice for French voters, seeking to maintain their social lifestyles. Le Pen offers only fear to French voters, unwilling to rock-the-boat with the EU or the many socialist benefits guaranteed to French citizens.
