The voter in France has restricted his choice as perhaps seldom before in the country’s political history. The Socialist and Les Républicains parties ~ the mainstream centre-left and centre-right groups ~ that have dominated French politics for decades, have for now been relegated to the footnotes. This succinctly is the message conveyed after last Sunday’s first round. Ergo, the presidential run-off next Sunday ~ 7 May ~ will be a clash between the far-right Marine Le Pen of the Front National and the centrist, Emmanuel Macron. Quite the most remarkable feature is that the two parties, that seem to be down and out in the race for the Elysee, have united to urge the country to back Macron and reject Le Pen’s populist, anti-EU and anti-immigration nationalism. Less than a fortnight before the critical round, Macron quite clearly has the overwhelming support of the people and the political class generally. However demoralised, the mainstream parties have been eloquent in their support to Le Pen’s opponent. The voters have rejected the far-right leader’s brand of nationalism in the fountainhead of libertarian democracy, however much she may rant at Macron as a “hysterical, radical Europeanist. He is for total open borders. He says there is no such thing as French culture. There is not one area where he shows one ounce of patriotism.” For all the creaking up of rhetoric, the voter thinks differently, however. The ascendancy of a hitherto fringe entity is the critical signal that has been emitted by the electorate. There is no ambiguity in the choice of the middle ground… in preference to the mildly Left, let alone the Right. Further comment must await the outcome of the run-off, but it would be reasonable to presume that this week’s broad trends will be manifest. If the mood of the electorate is an index to the renewed tryst with democracy, there is little or no scope for fanatical expressions of rabid nationalism.

Not wholly unrelated to the discouraging outcome of the first round is the “temporary” resignation of Le Pen from the presidency of Front National, pledging to be “above partisan considerations” and be riveted to the race for the Elysee. Her objective in stepping aside from helming her party’s presidency is to appeal to supporters of the defeated first-round candidates, particularly those who backed the conservative François Fillon, who finished third, and the innocuous right-winger Nicolas Dupont-Aignan. But given the groundswell of support for Macron, it is hugely unlikely that the 7 May run-off will be any different. Most particularly the support has been extended by the outgoing President, François Hollande, who says he will vote for Macron, his former economy minister, because Le Pen “represents both the danger of the isolation of France and of rupture with the EU”. A far-right President would “deeply divide France”, is Mr Hollande’s grim foreboding. “Faced with such a risk, it is not possible to take refuge in indifference.”