French elections: Will Macron reign supreme?

By Cindi Cook

PARIS (AA) - On April 10, the French people will go to the polls to vote on their next president in the first round of the polls with the second, runoff round scheduled for April 24.

France’s official campaign season kicked off on Monday. There are a total of 12 candidates in the race for the top spot in the land, from the incumbent Emmanuel Macron to far-right three-time candidate Marine Le Pen to Greens party candidate Yannick Jadot to current Paris Mayor and Socialist Party candidate Anne Hidalgo.

By constitutional decree, elections in France are held every five years and the president is elected by popular vote. The last five years have been fraught with challenges that could slay any leader, from virulent fuel price protests by the Yellow Vests group -- known the world over for their fluorescent yellow jackets -- to less virulent but still-strong transit strikes lasting for months, which only ceased after being eclipsed by the beginning of the global coronavirus pandemic in the spring of 2020 which had France at its epicenter.

Top this with Brexit debacles, ongoing and serious climate challenges, and rising inflation causing now-doubling gas prices. If that was not enough, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ongoing war in Ukraine has turned the world upside down and seen nearly 4 million Ukrainian refugees flood into Europe, including France.

The next person to hold the top job will have to be able to handle all of this as well as a smorgasbord of issues, from agricultural concerns to France’s participation in NATO to border conflicts to immigration. There is no shortage of inflammatory debates on both sides to fuel the political fire.

Despite many French citizens feeling that Macron came up short during the pandemic and failed to move on environmental concerns, the president was favored to win as of April 1 polls conducted by French newspaper Le Figaro. He holds fast at 28.2%, followed by the National Rally party’s Marine Le Pen at 19.3%.

“Macron wants to dismantle public health, free education, hospitals, and the retirement plan, which was very favorable. He’s planning an attack on the social state. We have cushions in life, you know? When things get tough. He wants to dismantle all of this. I really hate him,” declared Rita, a volunteer out on the street campaigning for Jean-Luc Melenchon.

France’s Insoumise party candidate Melenchon has come in at a third place in the polls at a very respectable 14.1%, considered by many to be France’s answer to US Senator Bernie Sanders with an egalitarian approach that speaks to everyone.

Philippe, an engineer by profession who enjoys chatting about politics over his lunch, thinks Melenchon has the kind of ideas many are seeking.

“I’m going to vote for Jean-Luc Melenchon because I think he has the best program for the social aspects of the society -- and it’s not pro-rich and anti-immigration,” he said.

Unsurprisingly, next in line is the highly controversial candidate Eric Zemmour, who currently ranks at 10.6%, his far-right rallying cry being a boon to his followers who admire Zemmour’s no-apologies and even at times racist rhetoric. He is often billed as the French Donald Trump. At a rally earlier this week, he allowed audience members to chant “Killer Macron” over and over in response to Zemmour’s accusation of Macron letting foreign “criminals” into the country.

Following Zemmour is Valerie Pecresse, the current president of the Regional Council of Ile-de-France, and one who is seen as neutral in tone but smart.

Although she is currently mayor of Paris and has strong support from her own Socialist Party, Anne Hidalgo has courted much controversy in her six years at the top spot of France’s capital. Her anti-car stance has rattled riders, although her wide establishment of bike lanes throughout the city has pushed environmental concerns to the fore.

Each of the rest of the candidates -- with the possible exception of the Greens’ Yannick Jadot, who ranks in sixth place at 5.5% -- has made a minuscule showing in the polls and hardly a dent with voters, starting with the French Communist Party’s Fabien Roussel at 3.4% working downward to the Resistance Party’s Jean Lassalle, Stand Up France’s Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, the New Anticapitalist Party’s Philippe Poutou, and the Workers’ Struggle Party’s Nathalie Arthaud.

From Monday, each candidate will receive equal air time to speak on both television and radio, something that’s regulated at the national level.

Macron only “officially” launched his campaign last week, waiting to dive into the race, since he has had the more mammoth issue of the war in Ukraine on his doorstep. All at the Elysee is business as usual. Gendarmes stand at the ready outside palace doors and passers-by mind their own business while loyal supporters such as Anne and her family wait outside on a rainy Tuesday afternoon to catch a glimpse of her candidate.

“What do I like about Macron? In the first election, I voted for him because I thought he was the start of a new idea, a change for France. Now I think he must do something on the environment – a lot more,” she says, adding that despite fears about the situation in Ukraine, she does not fear the actions that her president will take.

“I’m scared of nuclear problems and that there could be an accident or something that Putin would do on purpose, but I’m confident that no matter what, President Macron will try to do something.”

Macron is the current president of the European Union, a rotating role between all 27 member states which he just assumed in January and which comes with a responsibility to make sure that Europe stays safe from harm as Putin enters week five of his war in Ukraine and European leaders discuss the delivery of both military and humanitarian aid.

Among Macron’s hot-button issues are fighting for a more just retirement (he has not forgotten the pension debate that kicked off Yellow Vest protests but was waylaid by the pandemic), reducing poverty, and helping the French drive green and cheaper.

Voters like Rita feel that much deeper change is needed, on a wholesale level.

“I would have voted for Poutou if I weren’t for Melenchon. He’s a revolutionary, and that’s what we need: a revolution.”