Emmanuel Macron to turn left in new direction for France

Emmanuel Macron has promised a new consensual style of government after winning a second term in the Elysee.

French President Emmanuel Macron during his victory speech on Sunday in Paris. Picture: AFP

Emmanuel Macron has promised a new consensual style of government after winning a second term in the Elysee in a presidential election that exposed anger among left and right-wing voters over his regal manner of leadership.

Government spokesman Gab­riel Attal said a more humble ­“listening” administration would adopt “a whole new method” of ruling, including closer consultation with councils and unions.

According to the first poll published since Sunday’s victory, Mr Macron’s party could secure an outright majority in June’s parliamentary elections if he strikes an alliance with smaller parties, including the centre-right Republicans.

The Harris Interactive predicted Mr Macron’s camp would win between 326 and 366 seats in the 577-seat national assembly. Marine Le Pen and her right-wing ­allies are seen as winning between 117 and 147 seats, with the left-leaning parties taking 73 to 93 seats.

Ministers said Mr Macron was sincere in his promise on Sunday night to heed the feelings of the 41 per cent of voters who backed Ms Le Pen, 53, and those of the millions of people who chose Jean-Luc Melenchon, the leftist firebrand, in the first round. Bruno Le Maire, the Finance Minister and a pillar of the Macron team, said: “Of course we have to change our way of governing. We are in a sort of stifled democracy.”

Mr Macron scored a decisive victory with 58.54 per cent of the vote, becoming only the third president in six decades to win re-election. However, a near-record-low turnout of 72 per cent added to the sense that he had scored “a victory without the glory”, as Liberation, the left-wing daily, called it.

An artist gives final touches to a painting of French President Emmanuel Macron after his victory. Picture: AFP

Prime Minister Jean Castex is expected to offer the resignation of his government this week. Mr Macron, who formally opens his second term on May 13, will ­appoint an interim team with more of a centre-left and Green tinge than the right-leaning outgoing cabinet.

Mr Attal confirmed that a woman would lead the government, but no favourite has emerged. There has been speculation that Elisabeth Borne, the Socialist Labour Minister, is being considered, or perhaps Christine Lagarde, head of the European Central Bank. She is, however, thought to be an unlikely pick ­because she served as a minister under the conservative presidents Chirac and Sarkozy.

The government’s first mission will be to execute Mr Macron’s promises for action against the ­inflation that is eating into pay packets and which was Ms Le Pen’s chief weapon in her campaign.

Monday’s front pages of the French newspapers show President Emmanuel Macron after beating his far-right rival Marine Le Pen for a second five-year term. Picture: Getty Images

Measures will include tax cuts, incentives to employers to issue low-tax bonuses, and top-up “cheques” for lower-income households. A concerted effort to sell Mr Macron’s plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 65, a policy that remains deeply unpopular, will also kick in.

But time is short, and there are fears of civil strife. “The election has revealed a terribly divided France,” said Bruno Cautres, a ­research fellow at Sciences Po university in Paris.

“Macron is going to have a lot of work to sew things back together and reunite the French.”

Neither Ms Le Pen nor Mr ­Melenchon wasted time on Monday in launching parliamentary campaigns.

If an opposition bloc controls the national assembly, the president is obliged to appoint its leader as prime minister and let it govern while he remains largely on the sidelines.

Mr Melenchon appealed to voters with characteristic rhetoric to “make me prime minister”.

This would require an alliance with Greens, Communists and surviving Socialists to form a left-wing parliament majority.

The Times