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editorial

Emmanuel Macron has managed to win in the first round of the French presidential election with the help of a sports slogan, En Marche! – "Let's go!" – rather than a political party.

In coming in first in the voting, he surpassed a number of long-standing parties, most importantly the far-right Front National, led by Marine Le Pen, which finished second.

Mr. Macron's first-round victory is a great relief for France, not to mention Europe. But the second round won't be easy.

More than 10 million electors didn't vote at all, surpassing the 8.5 million who voted for Mr. Macron and the 7.7 million for Ms. Le Pen. When so many French voters are abstainers, it isn't easy to predict the second-round result. The overall number of citizens who vote could fall even further in the next round.

And now Ms. Le Pen has resigned as leader of the Front National and says she will run as an independent in the second round. It's a cynical move aimed at attracting voters who shied away from the FN's demagoguery.

In spite of all that, Mr. Macron's success so far is remarkable. It's not fanciful to think that he will become a very effective president.

Until a few months ago, he was hardly known beyond the world of technocrats. Mr. Macron is a policy wonk, and served as an adviser to François Hollande, the outgoing President of France, who was also the leader of the Socialist Party.

When Mr. Macron worked for Mr. Hollande, he had a remarkable ability to persuade the socialist President to adopt a number of free-market policies – at least by French standards.

If Mr. Macron does become the next French president, he will have to put his proven powers of persuasion to good use, especially on the economic front.

On the other hand, Mr. Macron – if elected – won't have much of a political base in the French National Assembly. He will need to build a new one of his own, with his own connections and Socialist Party members who are not very socialist.

In spite of all these difficulties, Mr. Macron's likely rise to the French presidency is a bit of marvel. Ms. Le Pen can see it. Suddenly she is trying to convert her candidacy into something less radical. That sounds like a strategic retreat.

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