Elections in France

The first round of elections for the President of the French Republic was held on April 10. There were twelve candidates and the top vote-getter was Emmanuel Macron with 27.85% of the vote (in 2017 he got 24%). The rest of the candidates, with the exception of two, got less than expected from the polls (falling below 10% of the vote). The candidates’ percentage of support varied depending on the area taken into consideration. In Paris, the top vote-getter was Macron with 35.49% of the vote; in the president’s city of residence, Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, Macron got 55.8% of the vote; in the French Embassy in Moscow, Zemmour prevailed (26.8%). Below is a map showing the most voted candidate in each of France’s 96 metropolitan departments (excluding overseas territories).
Pink: Macron
Red: Mélenchon
Purple: Le Pen

Preferences also change according to age. Macron got 41% support from the over-70s, 30% from the 60/69-year-olds, and 20/24% from the younger ages. There were many abstainers, including 27% men and 25% women. 42% of them are between 18-24 years old and 46% between 25-34 years old.

Macron’s electoral program includes increasing the production of electric and hybrid vehicles, building 50 wind farms to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, appointing a premier to deal with ecological planning, raising minimum wages and minimum pensions, a “Macron prize” for corporate employees and new projects for young people. During his first rally, held April 2 in Nanterre, the president spoke about his election program and the war between Ukraine and Russia. During his second rally, held on April 16 in Marseille, Macron expressed his intention of renewal to be applied in the next 5 years. Macron uses social media a lot, including to issue press releases or to interact with the people. Remember, for example, that during the lockdown he registered some videos to answer followers’ questions. On YouTube, however, he challenged Carlito and Mcfly to make a video dealing with anti-Covid regulations that would reach ten million likes. The two succeeded and were able to shoot a video at the Elysee Palace, during which they challenged the president in the “Anecdote Challenge” (which consists of telling far-fetched stories and being able to distinguish the true ones from the fake ones), which was won by Macron. Today the president has 3 million followers on Instagram, 2.9 million on tik tok, 8.2 million on Twitter, and 4.3 million on Facebook.