France: Macron Beats Le Pen To Win Second Term
By Arab News
Emmanuel Macron has been re-elected for a second term as French president on Sunday, with 58.2% of the vote, according to estimates from the Ipsos polling institute.
Turnout for the French presidential run-off stood at 63.2 percent at 5 p.m. on Sunday, down by more than two percentage points from the same time in the second round of the 2017 presidential race, the interior ministry said.
Participation was also two percentage points below what it had been at 5:00 pm in the first round of voting on April 10, when President Emmanuel Macron and his far-right challenger Marine Le Pen advanced to the run-off.
On the basis of the official figures, polling organizations estimated that the abstention rate was on course for 28 percent which, if confirmed, would be the highest in any presidential election second-round run-off since 1969.
Analysts had warned that low turnout could swing the final result in either direction, even though opinion polls have given Macron a comfortable lead against Le Pen over the past two weeks.
The centrist Macron asked voters to trust him for a second five-year term despite a presidency that was troubled by protests, the pandemic and Russia’s war on Ukraine. A Macron victory makes him the first French president in 20 years to win a second term.
The result Sunday in France, a nuclear-armed nation with one of the world’s biggest economies, could also have an impact on the war in Ukraine, as France has played a key role in diplomatic efforts and firmly backed sanctions against Russia for its invasion of its neighbor.
