While Paris is teeming, as always, with cultural, commercial, and touristic activity, the past few weeks have been almost entirely focused on the elections and the country’s political future. The general elections were the first to be held since the Charlie Hebdo attack on 7 January 2015 and the massacres at the Stade de France, the Bataclan, and other sites later that year. Although Paris seems to have regained its equilibrium, the country is still under the state of emergency that was declared in 2015. After the massacre in Nice and the recent assassination on the Champs Elysées, this is unlikely to be lifted soon. Heavily armed military guards are commonplace. Airport-style security and body scans remain standard procedure in museums, galleries, and universities.

All of this made up the backdrop and general atmosphere in the lead-up to the elections of 23 April and 7 May, a period which felt like a pivotal moment in French history. As well as providing a stage for a series of high-profile scandals, the campaign has been an opportunity for deep reflection about national identity and France’s relationship with Europe and the rest of the world.

French election posters (Wikimedia Commons)Emmanuel Macron’s decisive victory was a huge relief for many. Symbolically and practically, the election of Macron represents a vindication of democracy over populism, continuity over rupture, and a predominantly European, rather than nationalist, outlook. Unlike his his opponent, Marine Le Pen, Macron is someone who can be taken seriously at an international level. Although his new party, ‘En Marche!’, has yet to prove itself, it promises measured change rather than the chaos and turmoil that would have followed victory by Le Pen’s National Front (FN). Macron’s win staunches a tide of populist and nationalist victories by Trump and Brexit, and close shaves in Austria and the Netherlands.

Yet there are many people who, though hostile to Le Pen, feel unrepresented by Macron and his ilk. Macron comes from the world of big banks, business, and free-market capitalism. There were large numbers of what became known as ‘Ni-ni’ (‘Neither nor’) voters, for whom Macron and Le Pen were completely anathema. Twenty-five per cent of voters abstained, the highest level since 1969. Many others voted informally, or ‘blanc’.

In the tumultuous lead-up to the first round of elections, the far left indulged its short-lived fantasy of radical and systemic political overhaul represented by Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s party, ‘La France insoumise’, despite the fact that Macron and Le Pen had led in the polls for months; there was no real surprise on the day, but rather a mixture of relief and repugnance. After the first round, Macron’s victory was never seriously in doubt.

Not that the National Front and other far-right parties – whether openly racist, xenophobic, royalist, or anti-Semitic – can be dismissed offhand. Following Jean-Marie Le Pen’s first-round victory in 2002 against Jacques Chirac, this is the second time in modern times that the far right has come within striking distance of the Élysée Palace. Yet, unlike 2002, there were no mass protests across the country. Apart from a few small demonstrations, this second far-right threat did not see the Republic up in arms.

What has changed? In 2002, Chirac won with eighty- two per cent of the vote; Macron’s share was sixty-six per cent. This can be attributed to the banalisation of the FN and the steady rise of belligerent, populist rhetoric in mainstream political discourse. Marine Le Pen put much effort into cleaning up her party’s image and distancing herself from her odious father. There is a widespread appetite for a fundamental change in the political order, an almost hedonistic desire for anarchy – anything but a continuation of a system dominated by traditional political figures, personified by Macron. There was a dismissive and ironic attitude in the air. In a conversation about the possibility of a Le Pen win, someone said, ‘France will get what she deserves.’

Having grown up in the United Kingdom and lived in Australia for many years, it was a tonic to hear politics being discussed so openly and seriously in bars and restaurants and on the streets. One friend, who voted for Phillipe Poutou on the radical left in the first round and ‘blanc’ in the second, sardonically observed that the best thing about populism is that the debate becomes popular; Monsieur Tout-le-monde feels included in the conversation. Others remind me that in France passionate debate is the norm.

Headlines the day before the second round of the 2017 French presidential election (photograph by Lorie Shaull via Wikimedia Commons)

Notwithstanding, many Parisians agree that these have been the most romanesque – novelistic and dramatic – elections they have experienced. It started with ‘Penelope-gate’, the fake jobs and exorbitant suits scandals that destroyed François Fillon’s campaign. Then Emmanuel Macron breezed in from nowhere with his ‘shockingly’ older wife, followed by the publicity stunts at the Whirlpool factory as both second-round candidates scrambled to seduce condemned workers. On top of that were accusations that Le Pen had plagiarised Fillon’s speech. The FN’s interim leader, Jean-François Jalkh, was forced to step down after reports surfaced of a 2000 interview in which he questioned the use of Zyklon B in the gas chambers.

It is abundantly clear that not everyone who voted for ‘En Marche!’ supports Macron; many of them backed him to defeat Le Pen. The French had voted to say ‘No’ to the far right. France remains deeply divided along more lines than one. One traditional gulf lies between the big cities and la province. Many provinciaux, much more so than in the capital, regard Europe as the problem. Le Pen’s simplistic rhetoric, lauding patriotism and ‘intelligent protectionism’, is both seductive and naïve.

Despite the disaffection of the ‘ni-ni’s and the forty-four per cent that voted for Le Pen, there is a new sense of optimism. Macron brings an internationalist outlook rather than a Trump-like surrender to jingoism and isolationism. Will his presidency reunite a fragmented France? There are formidable obstacles ahead, but the present mood in the capital reminds me of the emblem of Paris, a ship with wind in its sails, and the motto: fluctuat nec mergitur.