The outgoing president of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron (La République en marche, LREM), was re-elected for a second term at the head of the French state on 24 April with 58.54% of the vote. He beat Marine Le Pen (Rassemblement national, RN), who garnered 41.46% of the vote. The two candidates had respectively won 27.85% and 23.15% of the vote in the first round of voting on 10 April.

The outgoing head of state achieved a hitherto unprecedented performance: he became the first president of the Fifth Republic to be re-elected outside the period of cohabitation. For her part, Marine Le Pen suffered her third defeat after those of 2012 and 2017. She nevertheless improved her result compared to the previous election of 7 May 2017: + 7.56 points.

The maps show that Emmanuel Macron's voters are largely urban and educated, from the most privileged socio-professional categories, while Marine Le Pen's supporters come from the working classes. Many are those left behind by globalisation. Similarly, the electorate of the outgoing head of state is older than that of his rival. Geographically, they are in the majority in the western part of France, whereas the supporters of the National Rally candidate live mainly in the north-east of the country, on the Mediterranean coast and in the overseas departments and territories. "We have an older France that massively voted for Emmanuel Macron and a younger France that partly turned away from the vote," said Bruno Jeanbart, deputy director general of the OpinionWay polling institute.

Once again, Marine Le Pen was beaten by the Republican front, i.e. the union of voters behind the candidate opposed to her to prevent the populist right from coming to power. However, it is worth noting that the candidate's efforts to de-demonise her party for several years have borne fruit. Although she did not win the presidential election, she attracted more than four out of ten voters, the highest result ever achieved by the Rassemblement National, a record in Europe.

The turnout was 71.99%, -1.7 points compared to the first round on 10 April. It is the lowest ever recorded in a presidential election, with the exception of 1969, when left-wing voters, at the call of Jacques Duclos (Communist Party, PCF), refused to choose in the second round between "bonnet blanc and blanc bonnet", that is to say between Georges Pompidou (Union for the Defence of the Republic, UDR) and Alain Poher (Democratic Centre, CD). Moreover, this is only the third time (after the 1969 and 2017 elections) that the turnout has been the lowest in the second round of a presidential election.

Results of the presidential elections of 10 and 24 April 2022 in France

Turnout: 73.69% (1st round) and 71.99% (2nd round)

Source : https://www.resultats-elections.interieur.gouv.fr/presidentielle-2022/FE.html

"This new era will not be a continuation of the five-year term that is coming to an end," said Emmanuel Macron after the results were announced. "I want to thank all the French people who, in the first and second rounds, placed their trust in me to bring about a more independent France, a stronger Europe, through investments and profound changes (...) I also know that many of our compatriots voted for me today, not to support the ideas I put forward but to block the far right and I want to tell them here that I am aware that this vote binds me for the years to come. I am the custodian of their sense of duty, their attachment to the Republic and respect for the differences that have been expressed in recent weeks," said the President of the Republic.

Emmanuel Macron promised to pass an exceptional law in favour of purchasing power this summer and to maintain the shield containing energy prices if they continue to rise. The reform of pensions and institutions should be priorities of his next five-year term.

"Tonight's result is in itself a resounding victory," said Marine Le Pen after the results. More exposed during the electoral campaign between the two rounds, she did not manage to assert herself during these two weeks where she often seemed hesitant and unclear on subjects that are however the favourite themes of her party such as the referendum on the death penalty, the banning of the veil in the public space, the membership of France in the European Union. Marine Le Pen said she wanted to be a "strong counter-power", a difficult task given the current voting system for the legislative elections.

Emmanuel Macron is 44 years old and comes from Amiens. He holds a Master's degree in philosophy from the University of Paris X (Nanterre). He is also a graduate of Sciences Po and the Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA). In 2004, he became an inspector of finance before joining the investment bank Rothschild & Co four years later. In 2012, he was appointed Deputy Secretary General of the Elysée under President François Hollande (Socialist Party, PS) before becoming Minister of Economy, Industry and Digital in 2014 in the government led by Manuel Valls (PS). On 6 April 2016, Emmanuel Macron founded En marche, a movement he defines as both right and left wing. He then resigned from the government to run in the presidential election, which he won on 7 May 2017. He who had never been elected before became President of the French Republic, the youngest elected head of state in the country's history. A feat considering that access to the supreme magistracy has taken decades for each of his predecessors.

On 24 April 2022, Emmanuel Macron was thus largely re-elected to office. He is once again making French history by becoming the first head of state to be re-elected out of a period of cohabitation.

Emmanuel Macron should, in the coming days, designate a new Prime Minister and appoint a new government. As soon as his victory in the presidential election was announced, the campaign for the legislative elections to be held on 12 and 19 June opened. The French are called to the polls to appoint the 577 members of the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament. Opponents of the President of the Republic have called for these elections to be a "third round" of presidential elections.

The head of state is to be reinstated in his post before 13 May.