Macron confronts a far-right challenge, as the first round of France’s presidential election begins

The first round of voting in France’s presidential election began on Sunday, with President Emmanuel Macron seeking a second five-year term against a strong challenge from the far right.

A total of 48 million people will be able to choose between 12 candidates. In France, elections are conducted using a manual system, in which voters must cast ballots in person, which will be hand-counted after the polls shut.

Most polls open at 8 a.m. local time (2 a.m. ET) on Sunday and close at 7 p.m. (1 p.m. ET) in most areas, with some major cities closing an hour later.

On Sunday, April 24, unless one of the top two candidates receives more than half of the national vote, a second and decisive round will be held between the top two candidates.

Voters waited in line to cast ballots at a polling location in southern Paris on Sunday before it opened, bundled up against the April chill. As part of the Covid-19 measures, they placed their paper votes into envelopes and then into a clear box once inside. Some wore masks or used sanitizer.

Apart from Macron, far-right candidate Marine Le Pen and far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon are among the leading candidates for the presidency.

For months, Macron, a political centrist, appeared to be a shoe-in to become France’s first president to win a second term in 20 years. However, in the last weeks of the campaign, the pain of inflation, as well as pump, food, and energy prices, resurfaced as major election themes for many low-income people. They could sway many voters to far-right leader Marine Le Pen, Macron’s political foe, on Sunday.

Macron won a decisive victory against Le Pen to become France’s youngest president in 2017. The victory for the former banker, now 44, was hailed as a victory against populist, nationalist politics, coming after Donald Trump’s election to the White House and the United Kingdom’s choice to exit the European Union, both in 2016.

After populist Viktor Orban won a fourth term as Hungary’s prime minister a few days ago, attention has shifted to France’s resurgent far-right candidates, particularly National Rally leader Marine Le Pen, who wants to ban Muslim headscarves in public places, as well as halal and kosher butchers, and drastically reduce immigration from outside Europe. This election has the capacity to redefine France’s postwar identity and signal whether European populism is on the rise or falling.

Meanwhile, a victory for Macron will be viewed as a success for the European Union. Observers believe that if Macron is re-elected, there will be greater cooperation and investment in European security and military, particularly with a new pro-EU German government.

With the eastern edge of the European Union engulfed in war, French voters will vote in a presidential election whose outcome may have international ramifications. France is the bloc’s second largest economy, the only one with a veto in the United Nations Security Council, and its sole nuclear power. As Russian President Vladimir Putin continues his campaign in Ukraine, French might will play a role in shaping Europe’s response.

Macron has used Russia’s war in Ukraine to demonstrate his international clout and to bolster his pro-NATO credentials during election debates. Macron is the only front-runner who supports the alliance, but the other candidates have various perspectives on France’s position in it. Melenchon is one of those who wants to get rid of it entirely, claiming that it only leads to squabbles and instability.

Such a scenario would be a major setback for an alliance formed 73 years ago to protect its members during the emergence of the Cold War.