When Emmanuel Macron’s face appeared on TV at 8pm last night, my friends and I breathed a sigh of relief. With Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (formerly National Front), the far right had come perilously close to gaining power in France, and after two weeks of constant worry about what that would mean for our country’s minorities and institutions, disaster was averted.
The same scene was repeating all around France, as we received texts reading “Ouf!” (“Phew !”). It’s an “Ouf!” French voters know too well by now: we already shared it five years ago, when Macron and Le Pen faced each other in the runoff of the 2017 presidential election and he won by 66% of the vote to 34%. But this time, he only defeated her by 58.5% to 41.5%, and the feeling of deja vu quickly gave way to indignation. In April 2002, when Marine Le Pen’s father, Jean-Marie, stunned France by going to the runoff against Jacques Chirac, the National Front was defeated 18% to 82%. The margin for comfort has all but evaporated in two decades. How much can we relax when the far right comes closer to reaching the Elysée at every election?
