The RN and LREM lists significantly outpaced the others on Sunday night, with the National Rally narrowly edging out the Renaissance list.
Moral of the story: the anti-Macron referendum did not happen, and those who were betting on the return of the old left-right divide during this first electoral test since the presidential election were disappointed.
Moreover, the Macronists believe that the French, through their vote, have thus given them a mandate to continue and even accelerate reforms, starting with unemployment insurance and pension reforms. Some supporters already envision Macron being re-elected effortlessly in 2022: “The best defense against the RN is him!”
And it’s as if this dramatization, encouraged by the president and his greatest rival Marine Le Pen, boosted voter turnout to unprecedented levels since 1994: over 50%, 7 to 10 points higher than in the 2014 European elections.
Another reason for satisfaction for the head of state and his allies is that the two parties that dominated political life for decades, the PS and LR, only garnered 15% combined, while La République en Marche, born just three short years ago, is nearing its 2017 score.
With 8%, LR has recorded the worst score in its history, a crash worse than the 12.82% of 1999 which forced the head of the list Nicolas Sarkozy to step down.
Furthermore, justifying this result—as Laurent Wauquiez did—by accusing Macron of dramatizing the debate suggests the mental confusion and lack of strategic analysis of the team running the party.
A final lesson and cultural phenomenon, the ecologists led by Yannick Jadot find themselves propelled as the third political force in the country. If the PS, led by Raphaël Glucksmann, tries to salvage its position, on the left, the useful vote is now the ecological one.
