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Protesters carry banners reading “Neither Le Pen nor Macron”
A majority of voters for French farleft candidate JeanLuc Mélenchon intend to abstain or annul them in the second round of next Sunday’s presidential election between current President Emmanuel Macron and farright candidate Marine Le Pen, points out an internal consultation by Mélenchon’s France Insubmissa party.
According to results released on Sunday, more than 66% of the roughly 215,000 party supporters who attended the consultation said they would abstain, leave the ballot blank or falsify it. Just over 33% said they would vote for Macron. Respondents were not given the opportunity to vote for Le Pen.
“The results are not an instruction to vote for anyone. Everyone will reason and vote as they see fit,” wrote the Mélenchon campaign team on its website. Last Sunday, Mélenchon, who received about 22% of the vote, urged his supporters not to vote for Le Pen, but he did not come to defend Macron.
Macron, a proEuropean centrist, rose to the presidency in 2017 after easily defeating Le Pen with 66% of the vote. Back then, voters joined him on the second round to oust the ultraconservatives from power. Mélenchon also did not support any candidate at the time and was more reserved in his criticism of Le Pen.
In last week’s first round, the second round repeated the competition from 2017. This time, however, Macron faces a much tougher challenge. His confrontational style and his often rightleaning policies reinforced resistance to a useful leftwing vote.
Researchers estimate the overall abstention rate for next Sunday’s election to be around 30%, similar to the first round. It is unclear what the consequences of a high level of abstention will be in general or among Mélenchon voters.
Both Macron and Le Pen are struggling to reach voters beyond their own spheres. In both 2017 and 2002 when Marine’s father JeanMarie Le Pen led the far right to the second round for the first time in France a “republican front” of voters of all stripes formed to keep the far right away from Elisha.
On Saturday, a poll by IPSOSSopraSteria showed that around 33% of Mélenchon voters will back Macron in the second round, while 16% will back Le Pen. But more than 50% of respondents refused to give their opinion.
allegations of corruption
Le Pen and her family were the target of corruption allegations on Saturday, involving embezzlement of funds from the European Parliament when she was an MP between 2004 and 2017.
According to a report by the European AntiFraud Office (Olaf), written a month ago and published by French website Mediapart on Saturday, “the financial impact of the facts found amounts to at least €617,379.7”. Facts denounced include the use of European funds for internal party events and personal expenses.
According to Olav, the complaints “may lead to criminal proceedings against former MPs (…) for fraudulent activities affecting the Union’s budget”. The office lists fraud, forgery, embezzlement and misappropriation of public funds for political or personal purposes as possible crimes.
The Réunion National (RN) candidate in the presidential elections is accused of embezzling EUR 136,993.99 and community funds between 2004 and 2017 as an MEP. Her father JeanMarie Le Pen is suspected of having embezzled 303,545 euros. 76. The report also names RN board member Bruno Gollnisch for embezzling €43,257, former Marine Le Pen teammate Louis Aliot for embezzling €2,493.22 and the farright political group Europe of Nations and Freedoms (ENL) who is suspected of embezzling 131,089 euros.
One of Le Pen’s lawyers, Rodolphe Bosselut, told Mediapart that he “knows nothing” about the allegations in the report, that he “never had access to them” and that Olaf is “not independent”. The lawyer also criticized the “coincidence” of the publication of the complaint with “the campaign for the second round of presidential elections, which is in full swing”.
The complaint undermines the image of honesty Le Pen is trying to convey during the campaign.
Targeting the working class and rural sectors of Mélenchon’s electorate, the candidate has focused her message on the cost of living, rising food prices and high petrol prices in postwar Ukraine. Meanwhile, she accuses Macron of being the candidate of the rich.
For his part, Macron is trying to appeal to the more educated, centreleft and urban segments of Mélenchon’s supporters.
On Saturday he told supporters in Marseille, who had voted heavily for Mélenchon, that he had heard his message and that his new presidency would focus his new presidency on making France fossilfuel free. He accused Le Pen of being a “climate skeptic”. The candidate replied:
“I don’t know what he’s basing that on, but I’ve never been skeptical about the weather. I have a program that takes the environment and ecology into account,” Le Pen told France 3 TV.
Macron’s pledges to do more for the environment may not hit the mark with some voters. Green Party leader Julien Bayou said the president lacked credibility on the matter.
“He had five years to act and he didn’t do it,” he told Radio Franceinfo, adding that the call for the Greens to vote for Macron was just to prevent the extreme right from to come to power.
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