The most important thing in the French election? Securing Mélenchon’s votes

For Macron’s brand of centrism to bring him a second term, he will need at least some votes from a first-round candidate who represents quite a different, if not opposite, strand of political thinking, writes Mary Dejevsky

Having apparently drawn so many votes from the mainstream left and right in the first round, Macron needs a slice of the Mélenchon vote to win. And this is where things could go wrong (Getty)

The spotlight, following the first round of the French presidential election, has been trained on Marine Le Pen. If France were to elect a president from the far right – whatever efforts she has made to soften her image and broaden her appeal – this would have enormous consequences not just for France, but for Europe and other parts of the world as well.

But the inexorable focus on Le Pen has tended to obscure two other features of Sunday’s election that could turn out to be as significant, and not just for France, in the event that Le Pen does not win. One is the performance of Emmanuel Macron and his brand of political centrism; the other is the unexpectedly strong showing of the hard-left candidate, Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

First, Macron. Five years ago, he created his own centrist vehicle, En Marche!, and rode it, against all odds, to become the youngest-ever president of France. On Sunday, despite all the criticisms of his aloofness, his arrogance, his “Jupiter” complex and the rest, he improved on his previous first-round performance by almost four percentage points (from 24 to 27.6 per cent). In fact, he increased his share of the vote by more than Le Pen did (23.4, from 21.3 per cent). If he wins the run-off in two weeks’ time, he will become the country’s first two-term president in a generation. Judged by electoral performance alone, he must be doing something right.