PARIS, April 25 (Xinhua) — The reelection of Emmanuel Macron to a second term as French president on Sunday has drawn mixed reactions from foreign citizens living in France.
Macron won the presidential runoff with 58.54 percent of the vote against his rival Marine Le Pen’s 41.46 percent, according to the preliminary results released by the French Interior Ministry.
Maria Teresa Sanz Morales moved to France from Spain in 2018 and she now works at the French Red Cross in Seine-Saint-Denis, a department in the northern suburbs of Paris.
She told Xinhua that she was relieved by the election result, although the influence of the far-right remains strong in Europe.
As a foreign citizen living in France and working for an organization where her job is to help foreigners integrate and live happily in France and “to promote their access to rights,” she felt that the vote had an impact on her personal life as “any political change affects my daily work.”
Saori Yamamoto, a Japanese citizen, moved to France in 2013. A social worker, she told Xinhua she was also relieved by Macron’s victory as her adopted country’s migration policy has a direct impact on how she can help welcome migrants to France.
For Maria Jose Zorrilla, who is from Peru and has been living in France for six years, the main takeaway of Macron’s victory is that she can feel “more secure” faced with the rise of the far right.
Monica, from Mexico, also breathed a sigh of relief.
“Marine Le Pen promotes exclusion ideas. As a foreigner in France, I am relieved that those principles will not be abruptly promoted for the next 5 years. It would have been terrible and scary having to live in that type of France,” she said.
“I watched the final debate (between Macron and Le Pen). France has hosted me and to a certain extent it is now my second home. Although I cannot vote, I feel a responsibility to be aware of what is happening,” she said.
Ana Chn from Russia has lived in France for 12 years. She told Xinhua that she was very interested in politics.
She said she was disappointed with the results of the first election round, because the leftist candidate, Jean-Luc Melenchon, fell short of making it to the second round. She added that with Macron’s reelection, the “social situation of the poor and middle-class people will worsen.”
A resident of France for six years, Kael Razafimaharo from Madagascar said he too was disappointed by the results as he expected a candidate of the left party to come out victorious.
Manami Shoji from Japan told Xinhua that she was not surprised by the election results.
“I am neither happy nor disappointed,” said Shoji, who has been studying in France since 2015.
