Macron's election victory, a relief for the world including Malaysia - Analyst

KUALA LUMPUR - Emmanuel Macron’s victory over his far-right rival Marine Le Pen in France’s presidential election on Sunday not only brought relief to European leaders but also to the world.

Director in the Chief Executive‘s Office of the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia, Shahriman Lockman told Bernama had Le Pen won, France's relations with the Muslim world would have been strained due to her crusade against "Islamic fundamentalism'’.

"Social measures advocated by Le Pen, including plans to ban the wearing of headscarves in public as well as to restrict housing and welfare benefits to French nationals only does not augur well for the French society itself.

"Malaysia should be somewhat relieved that Le Pen isn’t at the head of one of Europe’s leading powers.

"It isn’t in our (Malaysia) interest to see further harm done to relations between the West and the Muslim world,” he said when contacted on Monday.

Not only that, the analyst said Le Pen’s disdain for the European Union (EU) could have a major impact on the bloc.

"That would have made the EU an even less cohesive player on the international stage. The EU’s strategy to boost cooperation in the Indo-Pacific too would have stumbled even before it had begun in earnest,” he said.

Also her stand against globalisation and the unfriendly economic reforms she proposed would have made France a much less business-friendly country, and ruin the country's competitiveness in the long run.

However, the analyst felt the bilateral relationship with Malaysia would not have fundamentally shifted one way or the other had the election outcome been different.

"Nevertheless, it is a major relief,” he said.

According to media reports, centrist Macron had won a second term as French president in Sunday’s run-off election.

The candidate of the La Republique En Marche! Party, received 58.6 per cent or 18,779,809 votes, while Le Pen gained 13,297,760 votes, or 41.46 per cent. -BERNAMA