'Clinton Vs. Trump:' How Moscow Reacted to the French Presidential Election

The Russian political establishment has heaped cynicism on the French presidential election's first round, in which independent candidate Emmanuel Macron beat two formidable pro-Russian candidates. In the second round on May 7 Macron will runoff against Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front, and supporter of Russian foreign policy.

The Kremlin issued a brief statement on the result of the first round, voicing "respect for the choice of French people." It betrayed no sympathies. Outside the presidential administration, however, disillusionment with an election that seemed to lean toward Moscow from the outset, only to take a sharp turn against it in the last four months, was tangible.

"The first impression from the French elections is that it will resemble the Clinton versus Trump race in the U.S. a lot," Russian senator and head of the International Affairs Committee, Konstantin Kosachev wrote on Facebook.

He likened Macron to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and the anti-EU and anti-migrant Marine Le Pen to the eventual winner of the U.S. plebiscite—Donald Trump—albeit without predicting Le Pen's result would be the same.

However, Leonid Slutsky, head of the lower house's International Affairs Committee said that regardless of Le Pen or Fillon's inability to win the first round, "the mood for protest" in France was growing. He hailed Le Pen as the candidate for "those who want their future and the future of the French Republic to be in their hands, not in decrees and demands from across the ocean."

Slutsky suggested Le Pen could yet win, telling state news agency Itar-Tass,"I don't rule out that Marine Le Pen's support could increase from the electorate of those candidates who lost the first round."

Others lamented the poor result of Republican candidate Francois Fillon.Despite his pro-Russian tendencies, the center-right's choice had been tipped to beat far-right Marine Le Pen until as recently as January, but his campaign collapsed under allegations of misuse of public funds through his employment of his wife as an aide. He denies the allegations.

There was no miracle," Russian Senator Alexey Pushkov lamented on Twitter, referring to Fillon's decline, and warning of the extreme splits in French society that the vote revealed. "[Macron's] victory will not heal the division," Pushkov wrote, saying that French voters must choose between " two contradicting Frances" now.

Many of the responses echoed the rhetoric of the Russian political establishment during last year's U.S. presidential election, which represented the seemingly more pro-Russian candidate as the more vibrant and representative of the people compared to the established system.

In his Facebook post, Kosachev accused the Macron of promoting "hopelessness in urging to retain the current politics" and said that Le Pen represented "the hope for change." Kosachev did not mention the persisting probe into alleged active measures undertaken by Russia to interfere in the U.S. election in support of Trump.

"And yet, hope dies last," Kosachev concluded, acknowledging most candidates are now urging their supporters to back Macron as the mainstream candidate.

Such a strategy, known as the Republican Front, kept Le Pen's father out of the Elysee Palace in 2002. The electorate who had backed all the other candidates beside Le Pen rallied behind his sole opponent in the runoff, Jacques Chirac. This resulted in Chirac's backing multiplying by five times, while Le Pen's barely budged by a percentage point between the two rounds.

Macron is widely predicted to win in the runoff when he and Le Pen face off.