Voters in France continued to shun traditional left and right-wing parties for the second straight presidential election as they wanted to see "something new", an expert says.
French President Emmanuel Macron won the first round of the presidential elections and will face far-right leader Marine Le Pen in the second round on 24 April.
Whilst Mr Macron was favourite to win the first round, the traditional centre-left Socialist party and conservative Republican party did significantly poorer than expected over the weekend.
Alexandre Dayant from the Lowy Institute told SBS News that the results of this election are a "continuation" of what happened in the last election, when Mr Macron took power under the modern centrist party Republic On The Move (LREM).
“The people were expecting something new from political parties, and the offers put on the table from the traditional left and the right couldn’t answer those expectations. So we saw the emergence of new parties,” Mr Dayant said.
"Macron's party and the other non-traditional parties provide a more flexible and multidimensional political offering. You don't have to just vote for the left and have cultural liberalism or vote for the right and have economic liberalism. You can vote in the middle, for Macron, and have both at the same time."
Mr Dayant said people were "fed up" and "disengaged" with the traditional political system, and Sunday’s vote shows this hasn’t changed. He puts this down to distrust for the political elite, which has traditionally been represented by the Socialists and Republicans, and a lack of strong personalities representing their parties.
"The fact that people voted for Macron in 2017, and maybe why they're voting for him now, means the traditional political parties haven't regained the trust they lost back in 2017.
“The traditional parties were lacking a strong personal figure to lead reforms, figures that defined them over the years.”
He said Mr Macron’s strong communications team, and the divisive public discourse of leaders on the far left and right, "outmatched" those of traditional parties, who he says struggled to engage with their audiences, especially due to restrictions during the pandemic.
"It was much more difficult for traditional parties to reach out to their audiences. We had health measures, and a limited numbers of people in some rooms and departments. This meant it was harder for parties to connect with their electorates," Mr Dayant said.
Mr Macron led the first round with 27.6 per cent of votes, while Ms Le Pen was second with 23 per cent after 97 per cent of ballots were counted, according to the French interior ministry.
Headed by Parisian mayor Anne Hidalgo, the Socialist party took less than two per cent of votes, despite being one of the oldest and most voted for parties in France with former presidents such as François Mitterrand and François Hollande.
The traditional conservative party, the Republicans, headed by Valérie Pécresse, took 4.7 per cent of votes.
On the far-right, polemicist Eric Zemmour, who was found guilty in 2019 by a French court of inciting racial hatred, took seven per cent of votes. His campaign was based on anti-immigration and assimilation policy, including his call to ban Muslim first names such as Mohammed in France.
The campaign was less successful than he expected, but nevertheless higher than the Socialists and Republicans. Following his defeat, Mr Zemmour told his voters to support the successful far-right candidate Ms Le Pen in the second round of votes.
On the far-left, Jean-Luc Mélenchon took 22.2 per cent of votes, significantly higher than expected in the polls. Mr Mélenchon’s France Unbowed party is a left-populist movement regarded as the main rival of France’s far-right.
After coming third in the first round of votes, Mr Mélenchon said during a speech to his supporters in Paris: "Do not give a single vote to Marine Le Pen."
