France has picked their next president which doesn’t fall in line with the far right politics that swept across the United States last November.
Centrist Emmanuel Macron soundly defeated far-right National Front candidate Marine Le Pen as another hardline European candidate fell.
🔴 #BREAKING – Emmanuel #Macron elected president of France (with 65.1% of the vote) pic.twitter.com/4Vod8NNBm4
— FRANCE 24 English (@France24_en) May 7, 2017
Macron defeated Le Pen in a wave of an anticipated changing landscape of the European Union. In light of Brexit in the United Kingdom and the ongoing refugee crisis sweeping across the EU, the new President-elect Macron was able to stave off the wave of xenophobia and isolationism in which Le Pen and her nationalistic party tried to capitalize on.
A sea of French flags. This is not a #lepen party though. We are at Louvre. @EmmanuelMacron expected here tonight. #Présidentielle2017 pic.twitter.com/xkBHqmraq4
— Fanny Facsar (@FannyFacsar) May 7, 2017
Struck with two entirely different world views, Macron is strongly pro Europe and in favor of the Schengen boarder free zone. Macron is also in favor of globalism and inclusiveness as he looks to “bring all people together” which was a popular phrase within his campaign. Meanwhile, Le Pen and her xenophobic National Front party was set on a referendum to get France out of the European Union and the Schengen boarder free zone.
Still what remains concerning is a far-right nationalist was able to secure almost 40-percent of the vote in a country that stands as a major world power.
Either way, the United States has a little more than three and a half years before we go to the polls once again. So I guess in the meantime we’ll have to live out our election joy through France.