Emmanuel Macron, president of “Instagrammable France” at “everything except Macron”

He was the favorite for a second term. Emmanuel Macron was re-elected President of the Republic, this Sunday, in the second round of the presidential election. The French were faced with a historic choice: to renew the outgoing president, which has never been done – apart from cohabitation – since the adoption of direct universal suffrage in 1962. Or elect a woman and propel the far right to the Elysée – which would also have been a first for two reasons.

The re-election of Emmanuel Macron represents continuity, even if the president-candidate has promised to renew himself in depth, ensuring that he wants to place ecology at the heart of his second – and last – term.

From Amiens to “En Marche!” »

Enarque, former investment banker, ex-Minister of the Economy of François Hollande, Emmanuel Macron had become in 2017 the youngest President of the Republic, at only 39 years old. Born on December 21 in Amiens, he joined the General Inspectorate of Finance when he left the ENA (Léopold Sédar Senghor promotion) in 2004. After marrying Brigitte Trogneux in 2007, his French teacher 24 years his senior, Emmanuel Macron became an investment banker, then managing partner at Banque Rothschild et Compagnie.

Deputy Secretary General of the Elysée under François Hollande, he became two years later, in 2014, Minister of the Economy, Industry and Digital. Its “growth” bill (provisions on regulated professions, Sunday work, driving licenses, the coach market, etc.) was definitively adopted in 2015 after three appeals to 49.3. And it was in 2016 that he finally announced his candidacy for the 2017 presidential election, after having launched his political movement “En Marche! “, who wants to be” neither on the right nor on the left “, then resigned from the government in August. Arriving at the top (24%) of the first round, he was elected in the second round (66.1%) against Marine Le Pen.

Emmanuel Macron will then strive to embody what political scientist Jérôme Fourquet calls “triple A France, instagrammable France, the one that makes everyone dream”.

From Benalla to victory through the Covid-19 pandemic

Weakened by the Benalla affair in the summer of 2018, the Walker had to face the crisis of “yellow vests”, which continued throughout 2019. Two years later, in March 2020, his “We are in war” in the face of Covid-19 will remain a significant event of his mandate. And while he decrees a first confinement and the “whatever the cost” to face the pandemic, Emmanuel Macron chooses to suspend his pension reform project, strongly contested.

Entering the campaign for his re-election very late, Emmanuel Macron, who came out on top in the first round (27.85%) with more than four points ahead of Marine Le Pen, reactivated the “republican front” to counter his opponent. The outgoing president had promised, during his victory speech at the Louvre in 2017, to “do everything” so that voters “no longer have any reason to vote for the extremes”. A failure, from this point of view, while the Republican front has also lost its vigor compared to 2017 and 2002. And this despite the platforms and calls from the entire traditional political spectrum to block the extreme right. And despite Macronie’s efforts to re-demonize “the cat lady”, which has focused its campaign on purchasing power rather than immigration or insecurity.

Sanctified twenty years ago against Jean-Marie Le Pen, patriarch of the French far right, the Republican front is today competing with another front, the “everything except Macron”. A recurring pitfall for all outgoing, it works particularly well against Emmanuel Macron, after a five-year term studded with crises, from “yellow vests” to Covid-19.

Towards a third round

Emmanuel Macron re-elected, the fall promises to be hot, especially on the front of pension reform. Whole sections of the population do not find themselves in his program, in particular the youth, who welcomed the green shift of the candidate with great circumspection. “I think it will be a super complicated mandate”, anticipates a majority executive.

Our file on the presidential

A third round is planned at the polls in June, with the legislative elections, after which Jean-Luc Mélenchon wants to impose cohabitation by becoming Prime Minister. The objective is ambitious, but obtaining a majority could be difficult for Marine Le Pen as for Emmanuel Macron. And another third round is preparing, in the street this time, where all the dissatisfied with the presidential election are likely to converge, against a backdrop of galloping inflation, on the still hot embers of the “yellow vests” crisis.

Discover the results of the second round of the 2022 presidential election by city, department and region over 20 Minutes.