Sunday, May 7, 2017

Requiem

After unexpected upsets in elections in Colombia, the U.K., and the U.S., we wondered if Marine Le Pen might pull an upset in France. The short answer is No. The French behaved predictably.

Exit polling suggests Emmanuel Macron won roughly two-thirds of the votes in today's runoff election. Le Pen got some of the votes that went to other candidates in the prelim, but Macron got most of them, as polling had showed would happen.

It is likely France just lost its last opportunity to preserve its culture. Twenty-five or 50 years from now, the culture will be unrecognizable, although the country may still be called France. Or perhaps the Islamic Republic of France.