A tale of party primaries and outsider candidates: the 2017 French presidential election

Abstract

The 2017 French presidential election was astonishing. It returned a candidate, Emmanuel Macron, with no established party political support. This article places the 2017 election in context. It argues that the introduction of primary elections for the system’s main political parties had unintended consequences that helped Macron win the election. It also argues that Macron’s victory was due a more general electoral context that was wary of established parties and elites, that helped populist candidates, and that eventually returned a candidate in a manner that resembled the return to power of Charles de Gaulle in 1958.