On March 4th, Laure Pallez, an HNC ’11 alumna and an Economic Advisor at the French Embassy in the United States, led a lecture about France’s upcoming presidential election. Laure, who has written extensively before on the 2020 US Presidential Elections for her fellow French citizens, discussed the French community overseas, the institutional background of French elections, the political climate in France, and international implications of the campaign.
“Today (March 4th) is the deadline of the publication of the official list of candidates for the presidential election of France, so what a great timing to discuss this issue.”
The president of France is officially the president of the French Republic, head of state, and the Commander-in-Chief of the French Armed Forces for a five-year term (previously, a seven-year term), directly elected by the citizens. France adopted a new constitution in 1958 that split powers between the president as the head of state and the prime minister as the head of government. Currently, the president cannot serve more than two consecutive terms.
What are the rules to be eligible and be admitted as an official candidate?
Campaign Funding: The financing of the campaigns and political parties is highly regulated. There is a cap on spending at 17 million euros and government public financing of 50% of the candidate's expenditure. The biggest spenders usually win, as was the case of Emmanuel Macron in the second round of the 2017 election after outspending Marine Le Pen by more than 4 million euros. Private financing is strictly regulated. Individuals cannot loan money to presidential candidates but can make donations up to 4,500 euros. Those who break the rules face heavy penalties.
This year, eleven candidates have qualified to run, and Laure focused on seven of them.
Emmanuel Macron, Current President of France: President Macron declared his reelection bid on March 3rd in a letter published in local newspapers in France. In 2017, candidate Macron started a new platform outside mainstream parties, a centralist political party called En Marche, and he was remarkably successful. The former President François Hollande did not believe that could work, having always been supported by traditional parties. Laure further explained that he formed this platform because France has a fundamental divide between conservatives and progressives. She also thinks En Marche is similar to Andrew Yang’s platform, the Forward Party.
In his first few months as President, Emmanuel Macron enacted a package of reforms, such as public ethics and libel taxes. “My previous job was to tell those reforms to American investors interested in investing in France. So, I know this really by heart.” Laure mentioned. One of his first measures was to remove a very symbolic wealth tax.
Many social issues have marked his five-year term - talks on pensions, unsuccessful talks of reforms aimed at raising the retirement age, and the Yellow Vest Protests—a citizen-driven movement initially for economic justice and later for institutional political reforms. He is a pro-European president. “His polls are stable at 24%, but this number might increase with the Ukraine war, even if he sometimes appears very detached from people’s lives.”
Jean-Luc Mélenchon: The oldest candidate of the 2022 presidential election and a vocal critic of centralism; a Euro-skeptic. He ran in 2017 with his party called the La France Insoumise, a democratic socialist, left-wing populist political party. His voters are young and urban. Laure said, “he claims to gather the life behind his name and is very radical.”
Anne Hidalgo: She is a member of the socialist party that holds pro-European views. She has been serving as Mayor of Paris since 2014 and is the first woman to hold that office. She has strong proposals, but Laure mentions that candidate Hidalgo has a small minority of supporters.
Yannick Jadot: He is a member of the green party and currently a member of the European Parliament. He started his career as an activist for various NGOs. His campaign is aimed at the environment and energy-based voters. “He gathers a small number of intentions at this point.” Laure mentioned.
Valerie Pecresse: She is a conservative candidate and the first-ever female presidential candidate from the Republican Party. She has been President of the Regional Council of Île-de-France since 2015, and she served under Nicolas Sarkozy. She is trying to focus less on national identity and more on freedom. “She knows there is a reservoir of votes on the far-right voters, but her campaign is not developing as well as she expected for many reasons.”
Marine Le Pen: She is famous because this is her third race for this election. Her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, created the National Front in 1970. Le Pen has a softer message toward French citizens and less educated voters with a traditional platform against immigration, NATO, and the EU. Laure thinks she stands in the “very straightforward populist camp,” which is her last race. She has made it to the second round twice already in the past elections.
Eric Zemmour: He is a far-right politician, a pundit, and a successful writer. He was convicted three times for hate speech. In December, he decided to run for the 2022 election and created his political movement called the Reconquête. He appeals to history and ideas, not just politics. He claims to rebuild a right-wing program. There is a fascinating comparison between Donald Trump and Eric Zemmour, in which his “theories are equal to Trump’s crippled America.” Laure believes that Zemmour might defeat Marine Le Pen and Valerie Pecresse, but is not so sure about his success in the second round.
