Profound misunderstandings all over the place about how elections work in France.
The first round votes do not elect anyone. They’re like seeing the flop when you’re playing Texas Hold ‘Em.
Does that mean the first round doesn’t matter? Most definitely not. But if your conclusion to this result is “Le Pen won, Macron lost”…yeah no, it’s too early to conclude that.
It reminds me of Louisiana in 1991, when David Duke came in second in the gubernatorial race, and lost a very loud and negative runoff race.
As the bumperstickers said, "Vote For The Crook: It's Important."
LFI have already said they'll deselect any candidates who are 3rd and make the runoff, and macron's called for a Republican front. Still, 34% (or I saw 38% with the far right Republican splinter group) is really close to majority territory.
