WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — On Sunday, Macron was elected president in a runoff election by gaining 66.1 percent of the vote to Le Pen’s 33.9 percent, according to France’s Interior Ministry figures.
"Macron triumphed over Le Pen by nearly two to one. But if you count null and abstentions, he took only 43 percent of the vote, an amazingly poor showing considering the candidate he was up against," foreign affairs analyst and political commentator Dan Lazare said on Monday.
The result meant that Macron would be a politically weak president facing widespread voter skepticism as soon as he took office, Lazare warned.
"Macron will be operating from a very weak base: Liberalism and its close partner, the French Socialist Party, are depleted, and a growing portion of the population is completely fed up. The French political class should be worried, very worried," he said.
The outcome of the election was also very bad news for the United Kingdom (UK) and its prime minister, Theresa May, Lazare pointed out.
Now the UK and May will face a confident European Commission in Brussels strongly backed by Macron when it seeks to impose punitive terms on the UK for leaving the EU, Lazare predicted.
Retired UK Foreign Office diplomat Jonathan Clarke told Sputnik that French voters had proven more cool-headed and rational than UK voters had been in last year’s EU referendum.
Clarke noted that a large percentage of voters for Macron simply backed him to keep Le Pen out, not because they admired his own qualities.
"It is said that 40 percent of Macron’s voters were anti-FN [National Front]," he remarked.
The legislative elections are scheduled to take place on June 11 and June 18. The candidates have to officially announce their intention to run on May 15-19.
