The votes have been counted and Monsieur Macron is the new president of the republic. Winning by a landslide. Here is how he did it.
Fortune Favours the Bold
Macron could have stood for the socialist ticket. He instead made the bold decision to found his own party of the centre En March! This was both a pragmatic move, given the unpopularity of the socialist party and a recognition that socialism has failed France (Of course it has failed everywhere it has been tried). It should be clear to anyone now with any knowledge of history and economics that socialism is an ideology which should have died in the last century.
Creating a new party was a huge risk and Macron deserves credit for recognising that the time was right for a new centrist party with fresh ideas.
He Had a Clear Message
Macron’s message was clear and simple. France should embrace the new world, not run away from it. Again Macron deserves credit for delivering a message devoid of demagoguery. A believer in the free market, he has promised to liberalise the French labour markets, which have impeded French progress for too long. He has also not made promises he cannot keep, allowing dying industries to be replaced by new up and coming ones. This may in some instances cause short term pain but ultimately inevitable and in the long term interests of France.
With the problems France has faced around terrorism and migration. It would be very easy for the French to turn inwards. In electing a man who unashamedly wants to keep France an open country, the French people have shown they will not be cowed by fear. The ideas of Liberté, égalité, fraternité rain supreme.
Embracing Technology
Take advantage of big data, Macron’s team developed an algorithm working out which voters to target. His supporters then went out and knocked up hundreds of thousands of doors carrying out thousands of interviews.
It has to be said however before moving on that though technology has revolutionised how political campaigns are conducted this hasn’t all been positive. The election was still marred by fake news. The question of how we in the west deal with this new phenomenon still needs to be addressed.
His opponents sucked
In a straight presidential election with two candidates as in the second round of the French presidential election, history has shown time and time again that the candidate of the centre wins. This is yet another example of this, with Macron winning 66% of the vote. Marine Le Pen really did not stand a chance after reaching this stage.
This would have been a much tighter race had the candidate of the centre right Francois Fillon not gotten caught up in scandal.
