The French Election

By: Riley Boekhoff

On April 24, the next French president was decided. Emmanuel Macron won his second term, defeating his opponent, Marine Le Pen. The votes were decently close, considering the time before in 2017 when Le Pen got 33.9% while Macron got 66.1%. The final vote count for this election was Macron with 58.54% and Le Pen with 41.46%. “We have nevertheless been victorious,” Le Pen notably said after losing.

This election was the third time Le Pen lost the presidential election. After joining the far-right party in 2011, she ran for office in 2012, 2017, and 2022, losing all of the elections. However, it seems the Le Pen family has a history of losses from her father’s loss in 2002, where he only received 17.8% of the votes. There is a chance for Le Pen to run for the fourth time, however, it is unknown if she will.

The most powerful position in France is the president. This means that whoever wins the presidency, in this case, Macron, has a lot of power, including power over domestic and foreign policies. The president can do things such as appoint the Prime Minister, message houses of Parliament and nominate three members of the Constitutional Council. They can also do things very similar to our president, such as signing orders/decrees, grant pardons, and appoint Ambassadors.