As Emmanuel Macron continues to battle Marine Le Pen for the French Presidency, reports suggest he has failed to achieve his Presidential goals over his last five-year term. President Macron pledged to defeat the far-right in French politics but, as the election looms, the polls suggest the far-right candidates have strengthened since his election in 2017. Deputy Editor for Spiked Magazine, Fraser Myers, spoke with GB News to analyse Macron’s leadership as the French President vies for a second term. “He was supposed to see off the far-right,” claimed Myers, “but actually, the far right is much stronger.”

In the first round of French election results, no candidate was able to achieve the fifty percent needed to secure a win.

As a result, the two leading candidates, Macron and Le Pen, will enter a second round of the election with a final vote to determine the presidency. 

Despite President Macron’s efforts to defeat the far-right, he will face Le Pen, leader of the National Rally political party, in the final stages of the election as she won the second highest number of French votes.

Similarly, Myers highlighted the “extraordinary” achievement of far-right candidate Éric Zemmour achieving seven percent of the overall vote.

Myers explained Macron has failed to weaken the far-right during his Presidency and instead the last five years have “compounded the size of the far-right vote.”

The initial election results are concerning for Macron’s campaign as in the 2017 election also against Le Pen, “Macron trounced her.”

Myers claimed the French population is not just looking towards the far-right as a potential replacement for Macron.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, described by Myers as “far-left, anti-NATO, anti-EU” received over 20% of the French vote, narrowly missing a spot in the top two.

Read more: Le Pen targets Melenchon’s voters in knife-edge second round

Myers argued that dissatisfaction with Macron’s Presidency and traditional political parties has pushed the French population to look for “alternatives” on the edge of the political scale.

Macron continues to hold a slim lead over far-right Le Pen, though the polls predict it will be a tight race for the French Presidency.

Overall, Macron achieved 27.6% of the French vote, Le Pen placing just behind with 23.4% of the vote.

The second round of the election involving the top two candidates is set to take place on the 24th April.