After a campaign in which his promise of stability triumphed over the temptation of an extremist shift, Emmanuel Macron was reelected as president of France for a second term on Sunday, defeating Marine Le Pen, his far-right competitor. According to generally trustworthy projections at the closing of voting, Macron, a centrist, received 58.5 percent of the vote against Le Pen’s 41.5 percent. His triumph was narrower than Le Pen’s in 2017, when he won 66.1 percent to 33.9 percent, but it was broader than thought likely two weeks ago.
Why Muslims Voted Emmanuel Macron?
France has witnessed Islamophobia during the previous tenure of Macron, but now again he has been elected as President of France. In a tweet, Abed A. Ayoub, Legal Advisor and Policy Director at ADC, in a tweet, Ayoub referred to Macron as an Islamophobe and Le Pen as the bigger Islamophobe. Ayoub tweets, “Update from France: Emmanuel Macron, the Islamophobe, defeats Marine Le Pen, the bigger Islamophobe, to remain president of France.”
So, despite knowing that Macron is known for his Islamophobia, he still got Muslim votes. In the first round, Muslims voted for far-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon (69%), but many were undecided for the second round. The second round was suspenseful and, according to Safya, Le Pen belongs to the far-right and if she comes to power, she will impose cruel restrictions on Muslims, including a complete hijab ban. The Muslim people had only one option left to stop Le Pen by voting for Macron, who is less Islamophobe than Le Pen. That’s why many imaams told worshippers to vote for Macron to stop the far-right Le Pen from becoming president. Safya Khan-Ruf, a journalist and researcher at Hope Not Hate, wrote an opinion in The Guardian and said, “There are between 5 and 6 million Muslims in France, and they overwhelmingly voted for the far-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon (69%) in the first round. However, many are still undecided or have decided to abstain in this second round. This is despite several imams, including the head of the great mosque of Paris, encouraging worshippers to vote for Macron to prevent Le Pen from becoming president. “
How did imams believe that Macron was a better choice than Le Pen?
In his victory speech in May 2017, Macron promised to stop the rise of the far-right party and fight political extremism. On the contrary, five years later, the far-right party has never been stronger; it is making Macron take on a defensive position these days, according to the Daily Sabah. This is believed to be the reason for trusting Macron to prevent Le Pen. According to Safya’s The Guardian article, despite being successful in softening her image, Le Pen remains an authoritarian head of the far-right anti-immigration, antisemitic, and Islamophobic Rassemblement National party. She’s previously said that the headscarf could not be viewed as a sign of a person’s religious belief but was an “Islamist uniform”. She also compared Muslims praying on a street in 2010 to the Nazi occupation.
Anzer Ayoob is the Founder and Chief Editor to The Chenab Times