French elections: Euro and shares jump after vote
The euro jumped to a five-month high after the first round of voting in the French presidential election on Sunday.
Centrist Emmanuel Macron topped the voting, going through to the final round with far-right Marine Le Pen.
Investors had worried that far-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon would beat Mr Macron, giving voters a choice between two Eurosceptic candidates. [Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-39688501]
An equation with two unknowns: How newspapers reacted to Macron and Le Pen wins in first round of French election
Centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-Right populist Marine Le Pen advanced Sunday to a runoff in France’s presidential election, remaking the country’s political landscape and setting up a showdown over its participation in the European Union.
Sunday’s outcome is a huge defeat for the centre-right and centre-left that have dominated French politics for 60 years, and also reduces the prospect of an anti-establishment shock on the scale of Britain’s vote last June to quit the European Union and the election of Donald Trump as US president in November. [Read more at:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/24/equation-two-unknowns-newspapers-reacted-tomacron-le-pen-wins/ ]
‘Great for Europe’: reaction to Macron’s first-round success in French election
European politicians reacted with tangible relief to the first-round victory of Emmanuel Macron in the French presidential election, as the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, broke protocol to personally wish the independent candidate well in the next round.
Margaritis Schinas, a commission spokesman, tweeted that Juncker had congratulated Macron for his result at the first round and wished him good luck for the rest. [Read more at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/24/great-for-europe-reaction-to-macrons-first-round-success-in-french-election]
The Meaning of France Insoumise
by Grégory Bekhtari
The Mélenchon campaign has breathed new life into the French left in recent weeks, soaring to a competitive position in the polls and drawing tens of thousands to rallies.
But after his narrow defeat today, questions still linger. What does Mélenchon represent? What can the origins of his France Insoumise [Rebellious France] tell us about its politics? And where is it likely to go next?
Grégory Bekhtari, a member of the radical left formation Ensemble!, which supported the Mélenchon campaign, explores these questions beginning with Mélenchon’s 2008 departure from the Socialist Party (PS). [Read more at: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/04/the-meaning-of-france-insoumise/]
The Provocation Just Before the Election
The first round of the elections in France is being held against the backdrop of an attempt by the state and the media to use the violent incident on the Champs Elysées, involving a gunman who is alleged to have been acting on behalf of ISIS, to create an atmosphere of political hysteria.
With over 50,000 soldiers and policemen set to deploy to polling stations tomorrow, the elections are to be held at gunpoint.
As facts emerge about the background of the alleged gunman, it is virtually impossible not to conclude that this shooting was a provocation involving elements of the security forces, over half of whom plan to vote for Marine Le Pen’s neo-fascist National Front (FN). [Read more at: http://www.defenddemocracy.press/frances-election-at-gunpoint/]
