French election: Bishops say voters made a 'choice of reason'

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Source: Vatican News/FBC

Following the re-election of Emmanuel Macron as President of France on Sunday, the president of the French Bishops' Conference says voters made a reasonable choice but noted that the results show growing political divisions in French society.

Throughout the election campaign, the Bishops did not sides, but they encouraged people to vote according to their conscience, in the light of the Gospel and Catholic Social Teaching.

In an interview with Vatican Radio following the results, the President of the French Catholic Bishops Conference, Archbishop Eric de Moulins Beaufort, said that the people of France had undoubtedly made a "choice of reason".

He said the outcome showed that most of them had not wanted to venture into the uncharted territory represented by the election of Le Pen, and had rejected some of the measures she was proposing.

The Archbishop said what is "worrying for the future of our country" is that this election result reveals "the growing divisions" within France, not merely the geographical ones but also perhaps between "the rich and the poor."

Emmanuel Macron was re-elected with 58% of the vote, compared with 41% for his rival, Marine Le Pen.

In his victory speech, President Macron promised to address the deep divisions within France laid bare by the election results.

Macron has become the first incumbent president in France in 20 years to be re-elected, although his margin of victory was lower than in the 2017 race. Addressing supporters after his victory, Macron vowed to find answers to the "anger and disagreements" that led many French people to vote for Le Pen.

He also acknowledged that many people voted for him only to prevent his far-right rival from winning, and promised to be a president for all.Despite her defeat, Le Pen said her significant vote share still marked a resounding victory. She had campaigned on a platform of tax cuts to tackle the spiralling cost of living, a ban on wearing the Muslim headscarf in public, and a referendum to control immigration.

Turnout was just under 72%, the lowest in a presidential run-off poll for more than 50 years, and over 3 million people cast spoilt or blank ballots. (The turnout in the last UK General Election in 2019 was 67.3 % . There were 97,870 spoilt ballots.)

Macron's re-election was welcomed by European leaders some of whom had expressed concern about Le Pen's anti-EU policies.