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The re-elected leader became the first French president to win a second consecutive term in twenty years.
Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani has congratulated French President Emmanuel Macron on his re-election for a second term on Sunday.
The Gulf state’s Deputy Amir Sheikh Abdullah Bin Hamad Al Thani also congratulated the French president.
AFP reported that projections ahead of Macron’s victory showed that he secured between 57.6% and 58.2% of the votes against his far right rival Marine Le Pen. Macron had also defeated Le Pen in 2017 by winning 66% of the votes.
According to Reuters, Macron won around 59% of votes by 18-24 year-olds with the vote almost evenly split in other age categories.
Macron became the first French president to win a second term in twenty years.
The French leader’s supporters went to Champ de Mars, central Paris, to celebrate his victory.
Following his triumph, Macron pledged to address the anger raised by Le Pen’s supporters following her loss.
“An answer must be found to the anger and disagreements that led many of our compatriots to vote for the extreme right. It will be my responsibility and that of those around me,” said Macron during his victory speech, as quoted by the AFP.
Le Pen has announced her plans to run for the June parliamentary elections, saying that she would “never abandon” the French.
“This evening, we launch the great battle for the legislative elections,” said Le Pen.
Results from the first round of elections showed 41.7% of Qatar’s French population voted for Macron, 6.3% for Le Pen, 27.6% voted for Jean-Luc Mélenchon, 10% Eric Zemmour, and 6.7% voted for right-wing Valérie Pécresse.
Les Français du #Qatar ont voté :
-41.7% Macron
-6.3 % Le Pen
-27.6% Mélenchon
-10% Zemmour
-6.7% Pécresse
— Quentin M. (@MllerQuentin) April 13, 2022
In total, 16% of the French migrants in Qatar voted anti-immigration and anti-Muslim during the first round.
Leaders from the European Union were quick to congratulate Macron, describing his win as a victory for the region.
“The citizens have chosen a France committed to a free, strong and fair EU. Democracy wins. Europe wins,” tweeted Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
Le Pen had vowed to impose a headscarf ban due to her belief of it being “symbol of women’s submission” and linked Islam to terrorism during the weekend’s presidential debate.
“The real issue is Islamist terrorism. We must pass legislation against the Islamist ideology that is attacking the very foundations of our Republic,” said the far-right politician.
Macron then responded by saying,“I’m not in favour of banning religious symbols in public. Secularism is a freedom.”
Islamophobia in France has been on the rise under Macron’s rule.
Data collected by the Central Intelligence Service Territorial Ministry of the Interior (SCRT) in 2020 found that anti-Muslim attacks had increased by 52% in comparison to 2019.
The increase was seen particularly during the last quarter of 2020, at a time when offensive Charlie Hebdo cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad resurfaced and sparked controversy worldwide.
This was followed with a terrible incident in which a teacher in France was killed for showing his class the cartoons.
France responded with a large-scale crackdown on Islamic entities in the country, raiding more than 50 mosques and associations.
Macron had described Islam as a religion “in crisis” worldwide and said that his country would “not give up cartoons.” This has triggered global controversy and a boycott campaign by some of Qatar’s population of French products.
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