The French Election


The Unsettling Warning in France’s Election

In a runoff election between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, Macron edges out the victory with a majority vote in his favor. Thus earning him presidential reelection that has not occurred since 2003. What’s interesting is the voter turnout. Interestingly enough, Le Pen, who supports Vladimir Putin, has earned record voter turnout from her party. Emmanuel Macron, an incumbent from the center-right party (En Marche), however, received record low turnouts. While any speculation on voter hostage situations borders on conspiracy, there is definitely a message to be heeded here. When polling the voters who swayed in favor of Le Pen, many stated it was to oppose Macron rather than support Le Pen. This sentiment is very dangerous to democracy. A great example is American Politics. For the past several elections, all people have done is vote in opposition. No one is happy with their candidate, and yet the other candidate is bad enough that you have to vote for your side. This leads to no choice in who we want as president, because the party essentially can choose whoever they want. As long as it’s not “that guy” leading to lower and lower quality in leadership over time.