‘President of patriots’ set to be the youngest French Prez

Contesting his first ever election under the banner of the political party ‘En Marche’ (On the Move) that he floated after resigning as a minister in August last year, Emmanuel Macron, 39, rewrote history on Sunday.

The former investment banker who worked with Rothschild had joined the Francois Hollande government in 2012 as an advisor on the economy. He was drafted as a minister soon thereafter.

If he or any of the other contenders had secured 50% of the votes on Sunday, there would not be a second round of polling. But under the French system, if nobody secures 50% votes in the first round of the Presidential election, the top two contenders are allowed a face-off in the second round to decide the winner.

Although Macron polled 23.75% of the votes as opposed to Marine Le Pen’s 21.53% on Sunday, with virtually all other parties including Socialists and the Conservatives, the two mainstream parties in France which will be sitting out of the second round for the first time in 60 years, pledging their support to Macron on Sunday, his election as the youngest French President appears to be a foregone conclusion.

“I want to be the president of patriots against the threat of nationalists,” the 39-year-old centrist told a cheering crowd of supporters. Macron called on all ‘patriots’ to rally behind him against the threat of what he called ‘nationalists’, after qualifying on Sunday.

While critics continue to accuse him of being vague on various issues (during one of the debates Marine Le Pen declared, “Mr Macron, you have an amazing talent… you have been speaking for seven minutes and you have said nothing), Macron’s centrist appeal (Neither Left nor Right) do seem to have touched a chord with many voters who endorsed his contention that France could no longer do with ‘the same men and the same ideas’.

While he positioned himself as an outsider, his extraordinary marriage too has caught the people’s imagination. When he was still in school and just 17 years old, he is said to have proposed to his Drama teacher, a married woman in her thirties and 24 years his senior. They finally got married in 2007 when Macron was 29 and she 53.

Macron’s dream run, however, can still run into trouble with France voting on June 11 and June 18 to elect the equivalent of India’s Lok Sabha. While Macron has pledged to put up candidates for all the 577 seats, the Socialists and the Conservatives, besides the Communists and the National Front of Le Pen, will also be in the fray.

While the leader of the largest party will have to be appointed the Prime Minister, the French President will have to do a tight-rope walk if the largest party happens to be one other than his own.

For the time being, however, the unusual outsider can savour his win.