Macron’s appeal to unity succeeds but far right makes strong showing

After belatedly realising rationality wasn't enough to win, the president needs to heal a fractured' society's sense of injustice

On the campaign trail in Denain, one of the poorest towns in France, Emmanuel Macron walked into a crowd of voters to take the pulse of the nation" and a woman pushed forward to sum up the mood. We're living in misery," she said. Others shouted: This country doesn't work" and We've had enough". When one father described not managing to make ends meet, Macron said: That's what I'm fighting for." The man shot back: That's not the impression I have."

Macron, a young, former banker, who had loosened labour laws and promised the biggest overhaul of the French welfare state since the war, was lauded internationally for making France a star economic performer" of the pandemic era - growth had bounced back faster than expected from the Covid crisis, unemployment was at its lowest level for more than a decade, and government caps on gas and electricity prices kept French prices from rising as fast as those in European neighbours.