The first round of the French presidential election dealt another blow to Parti Socialiste (PS) and Les Républicains (LR), the two traditional governing parties. The latter’s candidate, Valérie Pécresse, finished fifth with 4.8 per cent of the vote, while the former’s candidate, the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, finished tenth with just 1.7 per cent.
As recently as the 2012 election, PS won the presidency with François Hollande and held the Élysée Palace from 1981 to 1995 under François Mitterrand. The predecessor parties to LR, meanwhile, held the presidency from 1995 until 2012, and 2017’s LR candidate François Fillon achieved 20 per cent of the vote. As a result of polling below 5 per cent, both parties failed to meet the threshold required for the bulk of campaign expenses to be reimbursed by the French government.
“I had to fight on two fronts, against the outgoing president and the extremes,” said Pécresse in a speech after the results were announced. In common with Hidalgo, she urged her supporters to vote for Macron in the final round against the far-right Marine Le Pen.
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