The Socialist Party (PS) and the Republicans suffered a historic blow in the first round of the French presidential elections, which raises fears that the two formations could disappear from the political scene
Black day for the two great parties that have marked the history of France during the Fifth Republic. The Socialist Party (PS) and the Republicans suffered a historic blow on Sunday in the first round of the French presidential elections, which raises fears that the two formations could disappear from the French political scene.
“It is not my fault if the two great parties on the Republican front have collapsed. It is not my responsibility. I have fought, I have convinced. It’s not my fault if the others sink,” centrist Emmanuel Macron defended himself this Sunday on a visit to Denain, northern France. “I am sorry because it is always better that there are opposition forces in the Republican camp,” added the outgoing president and candidate of La República en Marcha.
The candidate of the moderate right Valérie Pécresse, who reached 18% of voting intentions in the polls, obtained only 4.78% of the votes. “A personal and collective disappointment” for the candidate and a blow to the heir party to the formations of Jacques Chirac and Nicolas SarKozy. In 2017, the conservative François Fillon had obtained 20.1% of the vote, but failed to qualify for the second round.
If the result in 2017 of the socialist Benôit Hamon was painful (6.34%), that of Anne Hidalgo has been humiliating. With the mayor of Paris, the Socialist Party, which governed France with François Mitterrand and François Hollande, has hit rock bottom. The mayor of Paris achieved only 1.75% of the votes in the first round.
The Franco-Spanish politician, who was tenth, got fewer votes than the environmentalist Jannick Jadot, the communist Fabien Roussel, the defender of the rural world Jean Lassalle and the eurosceptic Nicolas Dupont-Aignan. Hidalgo only managed to beat the two candidates from the radical left, the Trotskyites Philippe Poutou and Nathalie Arthaud.
Neither the Socialist Party nor the Republicans managed to exceed the 5% bar, so the State will not reimburse them for a large part of the campaign expenses. Pécresse acknowledged this Sunday that the financial situation of his campaign is “critical” as a result. Therefore, he launched a national appeal for donations to return campaign expenses.
“We have not reached the 5% of votes that would allow us to obtain the 7 million euros of reimbursement that we expected,” explained Pécresse, a day after his humiliating defeat at the polls. The president of Île-de-France (Parisian region) explained that she is “personally indebted for an amount of 5 million euros.”
Hidalgo, on the other hand, does not need to request donations to finance his campaign, since it has been financed mainly by the departmental federations of the Socialist Party. Unlike the Republican candidate, the politician does not have a loan to repay, according to the TF1 television network.
After this resounding defeat at the polls, many in France wonder if the Socialist Party and the Republicans will be able to survive this electoral debacle or if the two parties will become part of the history books.
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