 The election was characterized by widespread dissatisfaction with the administration of President François Hollande and the French governmental establishment as a whole.The election was widely regarded as a referendum between the internationalist centrism of Macron and the populist far-right ideology of Le Pen.After a slew of events considered to be detrimental to globalization and a triumph of nationalism and isolationism, such as the Brexit referendum, and the election of Donald Trump, many international observers viewed the French election as another possible trendsetting event for Western politics.