Emmanuel Macron’s apparent habit of kissing a bald supporter on the head on election day has sparked French media speculation about whether it is a superstitious gesture as his centrists face a tough challenge from the left.
As the French president went to vote in the first round of the parliamentary elections in the northern seaside resort of Le Touquet, where he has a home, he approached waiting supporters before grabbing the party activist Grégoire Campion and kissing him on his bald head.
Campion, an activist for Macron’s centrist grouping and a long-time friend of Macron’s wife, traditionally turns out to see the president heading to the polling station on election day and is often photographed being enthusiastically kissed on the head.
In April, as Macron went to vote in the first round of the presidential election, which he later won against the far-right Marine Le Pen, he also kissed Campion’s head.
Similarly during the parliamentary elections in June 2017, he walked over to waiting crowds outside his Le Touquet home, took Campion’s face in his hands and planted a kiss on his head. He repeated the gesture on voting day for the European elections in 2019.
The daily Libération speculated that Macron, a football fan, “was trying to get good luck for his team” by imitating the traditional kiss of Laurent Blanc on the bald head of goalkeeper Fabien Barthez in the 1998 World Cup. Le Parisien described Macron’s voting day routine as a “big smile, greeting crowds and a peck on the head”.
The parliament elections, held in two rounds this month, will set the balance of power for Emmanuel Macron’s second term, defining his capacity to deliver domestic policy such as raising the retirement age and overhauling the benefits system. A new left alliance is aiming to increase its seats, challenging Macron’s centrists. The president needs a majority in parliament in order to have a free hand for his proposed tax-cuts and changes to the welfare system.
