France’s political
landscape changes rapidly after Emmanuel Macron’s election.
PARIS — The disintegration of France’s political landscape following the presidential election victory of Emmanuel Macron is picking up speed by the day.
Marion Marechal-Le Pen, the niece of defeated far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, is quitting politics, depriving their National Front party of one its few stars. Marine Le Pen tweeted Wednesday her regret at the decision but added that, “as a mother, I understand it.”
Marechal-Le Pen, 27, cited “personal and political reasons” in announcing that she won’t seek reelection in June. She held one of the National Front’s two seats in the National Assembly.
The decision by Marechal-Le Pen, who represents the party’s conservative flank and core values, kicks one more block from under the party, which is looking to remake itself and even change its name.
France’s Constitutional Council on Wednesday announced the official results from Sunday’s presidential runoff — 20,743,128 votes were cast for Macron and 10,638475 for Le Pen.
The abstention rate was 25.4 percent, election officials said.
Le Pen took comfort in the number of votes she won, which were a historic high for her party but about half of Macron’s total. She declared the National Front would be the main opposition to Macron’s Republic On the Move.
On the other extreme on the far left, the Communist Party and the party of defeated presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon are divorcing.
They campaigned together for Melenchon’s presidential run that saw him surge late in the campaign and get nearly 20 percent of the first-round vote, narrowly missing a runoff against either Macron or Le Pen. But the parties appear increasingly likely to field candidates who will compete against each other in the June legislative elections.
From holding power through outgoing President Francois Hollande and his majority in the outgoing parliament, the Socialist Party is tumbling ever deeper into disarray. Meanwhile, the mainstream right is torn between wanting to work with Macron and wanting to clip the new president’s wings.
Hollande presided Wednesday over his last Cabinet meeting.
He and Macron then appeared together at a ceremony in Paris’ Luxembourg Gardens to commemorate the abolition of slavery. The transfer of power is Sunday.
In what he said was his last official ceremony as president, Hollande allowed himself a joke, promising to turn over all his powers to Macron: “Don’t worry!”
More seriously, Hollande said Macron’s defeat of Le Pen showed voters’ support for “tolerance, respect, dignity, democracy, openness.”
Without naming the National Front, Hollande’s speech rang as a warning against the populist, nationalistic discourse of the party with a history of anti-Semitism, racism and homophobia.
Hollande addressed Macron as “Mr. President.”