French voters went to the polls Sunday in the lowest numbers in 20 years despite a tight race between Emmanuel Macron and nationalist leader Marine Le Pen.
French elections often throw up surprising twists, and this one didn’t disappoint. An early belief the vote would be a repeat of 2017, when Macron faced Le Pen and easily won, was overturned by the candidacy of far-right media pundit Eric Zemmour in November and the conservative Republicains party’s first ever female presidential contender, Valerie Pecresse, in December, both of whom initially shot up in polls.
But their campaigns fizzled out, largely to the benefit of Le Pen, who just this past week got a powerful tailwind while Macron’s support dropped. According to the last published polls, voter support for Le Pen in a runoff would be within a few percentage points of Macron. It now looks far from certain that he will stay in the Elysee.
