Round One, Round Two

What is extremely interesting about this election is that it is almost an exact mirror of the 2016 American presidential election. Marine Le Pen is considered to be a reincarnation of the candidate Donald Trump due to her radical views on minorities (she wants to ban all religious garments in public areas including Turbans, Hijabs, and Yarmulkes and once said that Sikhs were tolerable citizens because she did not have to hear about them under any circumstance). On the other hand, Macron in considered by many to have moderate, financially-oriented views and has been described by certain news outlets as not particularly appealing OR offending to anyone (the bland character that Hillary Clinton displayed expertly in her presidential bid).

That's a great point that you bring up! I think one of the interesting differences between the two elections is that Macron is perceived as less experienced in politics than Le Pen, whereas Clinton had more experience in government than Trump.

I share the same opinion as Tuhin. I also remembered how I used to hear French rap songs denouncing the disguised racism behind her believes. She was not really popular at that time. The difference between her and Trump is that she has some experience in the political area as even her father is a politician, with whom she shares the same ideologies by the way. All of this makes me impatient to see how the world will look like in let say 10 years to come.

I believe the topic of experience will indeed make a difference. Le Pen is a known figure, and has a weight of past political action behind her that will weight against her. Adding to this, I believe after Trumps election in the US and Brexit, there is a hightened awareness of what this election might represent for France and the EU. Lastly, we must also take into account there are 2 rounds within french elections, which will inevitably affect the decision.

I think the thing that stood out to me the most about Le Pen was the fact that she originally alienated her father, the founder of the French National Front, in order to create a new image of the front. Her father denied the Holocaust multiple times and I believe that Le Pen was trying to strive away from that image. However, recently Le Pen denied that France was responsible for rounding up more than 13,000 Jews at a Paris cycle track to be sent to Nazi death camps during the Holocaust. People began making similarities with Le Pen and her father, because her father claimed that the gas chambers in the Holocaust were just a "minor detail".

That's a really great point that you bring up. For so long, France had denied its involvement with aiding the Nazis during the Holocaust, but finally admitted the country's guilt. Denial will only bring the country further back into the past, rather than into a more progressive future.

Nonetheless, there is a definite schism between the 'old guard' of the party and Le Pen, who's trying to streamline it. It's definitely worth noting that Jean-Marie recently declared that his daughter "did not rise to the occasion" in her debate with Macron.

Any new thoughts, what with the results in?

I, and I'm sure the rest of the EU, breathed a sigh of relief yesterday when the results came in that Macron won. This is great news, but it also isn't. I'm very happy that France doesn't have their very own far right populist leader (as we in the U.S. do), but France also doesn't have a very experienced leader. Macron has never held an elected office before and he's going to have to spend a lot of time learning while he is in office. However, he ran a campaign that really focused on economic reform and I'm very interested in seeing what he accomplishes.