Macron is likely to win France’s elections

Before last Sunday, the political landscape in France seemed cloudy: the four contenders –Emmanuel Macron, Marine Le Pen, Francois Fillon and Jean-Luc Melenchon– had close to equal chances to win. However, after the win of Macron and Le Pen, the media argues that the centrist Macron has higher chances of being president. In fact, people are convinced that Le Pen won’t win.

Despite his lack of experience, his youth and the short existence of his political party, Macron was able of getting ahead on the first round of elections. And Le Pen, even though she has been a rather convincing populist candidate, seems to be losing momentum in her campaign. Her views, however anti-establishment may be, have lost their appeal. She even distanced herself from the National Front party by stepping down from the party leadership. She announced it a day after the election’s first round: “I am not the candidate of the National Front.”

Le Pen’s decision is an attempt to appeal to a broader audience and, at the same time, seem less radical about her ideas and proposals.

With a few weeks until the final round of the elections, Macron is closer to winning the presidency. However, as it happened with the Brexit referendum and Trump’s elections, current popular elections can be highly volatile and the media isn’t entirely trustworthy. So far, even if she’s far, we won’t take Le Pen out of the race. 

LatinAmerican Post | Juan Sebastián Torres