An analysis of the final results of last Sunday's presidential election shows the extent to which Emmanuel Macron's electoral strategy paid off handsomely, while at the same time indicating that support for the far-right is now firmly entrenched across the country. It is now abundantly clear that France has entered a new political era. But the results also highlight the risk that whole sections of the population could be left stranded without proper political representation for years to come. Fabien Escalona and Donatien Huet report.
Five years ago, and for the first time during France's Fifth Republic, an independent candidate from the centre entered the Élysée, under the noses of the two great parties of government – the conservative Les Républicains and the Socialist Party. His re-election on Sunday, achieved thanks to a democratic gamble that has now all but run its course, and despite two major crises (the 'yellow vest' protest and the Covid pandemic) shows that the 2017 win was no fluke. French party politics really has entered a new era.
