French Press Says Le Pen Will Hover Over Elections

By Le Figaro

On Monday morning, the day after the first round of the French presidential election, French newspapers devoted just as much attention to the high score earned by third-place candidate Marine Le Pen as they did to the two candidates who will advance to the second round.

The morning after election day, France woke up with a "vague hangover" according to French daily economic journal Les Échos, which bames this collective queasiness on the high score earned by far-right candidate Marine Le Pen (17.9%). According to columnist Jean-Francis Pécresse, the shadow of the Front national candidate will "hang over the campaigns of the second round."

The free daily Métro now anticipates a "head-on collision" (choc frontal) between Socialist François Hollande (who earned 28.6% of votes) and Nicolas Sarkozy (who earned 27.2%). But choc frontal holds a double meaning: it also refers to the collision with Front national candidate Marine Le Pen, who will hold the balance of power in the second round the daily suggests.

In an editorial written by Nicolas Demorand, the editor-in-chief of left-wing newspaper Libération, the first round of this year's elections resembles the infamous 2002 election when the radical right, represented by Marine Le Pen's father, made it to the second round."It isn't as serious as it was ten years ago, but it is just as worrying-- if not more," he writes.

Libération still celebrates Hollande's victory on its front page but highlights that Marine Le Pen's high score spoiled the fun, calling her a "spoilsport" who "managed to do something even worse than her father did." Finally, the paper says that Sarkozy's low score puts him in a weak position for the second round.

For French daily Le Parisien, if the duel between Hollande and Sarkozy was "expected," the apparition of Marine Le Pen is a "surprise." The newspaper chooses to focus on the failures of other candidates, saying that François Bayrou's third campaign for president was "one campaign too many." The low score earned by Jean-Luc Mélenchon is a "disappointment" as he will not "put on the suit of the third man" (Mélenchon finished in fourth place.) The newspaper also says that candidate Jacques Cheminade will have to "come back down to earth" after rancorously refusing to let journalists enter the rooms where his followers were holding meetings. 

Far left newspaper L'Humanité looks on the bright side, saying that the double digit score earned by Jean-Luc Mélenchon (11.1%) means that the Front de Gauche is emerging as a "new political force." Instead of talking about the victory of François Hollande, the newspaper called it "Sarkozy's denial."

The free daily 20 Minutes estimated that there will be not one but three decision makers in the second round: François Bayrou, Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Marine Le Pen. According to 20 Minutes, centrist candidate Bayrou of the MoDem will have to "choose between several options to secure his future." However, the newspaper reckons the far-right and far-left voters who follow Le Pen or Mélenchon have already decided who they'll vote for in the second round. 

As for the local press, regional newspaper Presse Océan (from western France) sees Marine Le Pen's score as a "wave" unrolling on the French political landscape. This wave "pulverized" Jean-Luc Mélenchon, according to Le Courrier picard (north). Last but not least, Midi libre (south) underlines this telling stat: "Almost one out of five voters adheres to Le Pen's political program."