French Voters in Africa Back Macron, Reject Le Pen

Source: Newsweek:

April 24, 2017 at 08:30

Six of the seven countries are former French colonies; Rwanda was colonized by Belgium and was mainly French-speaking before the current Rwandan Patriotic Front took power following the 1994 genocide.

French expatriates in Africa overwhelmingly backed centrist Emmanuel Macron in the first round of the country’s presidential election on Sunday, according to preliminary results seen by Radio France Internationale (RFI).

Voters in seven African countries—Algeria, Benin, Central African Republic (CAR), Guinea, Madagascar, Morocco and Rwanda—all backed former economy minister Macron.

There was a split among French voters in Africa over the second-placed candidate. In Algeria, Morocco and Rwanda, the leftwing outsider Jean-Luc Melenchon was immediately behind Macron, whereas in Benin, CAR, Guinea and Madagascar, the conservative Republican candidate Francois Fillon fared better.

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