PARIS, 17 April 2022 (AFP) Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen on Monday begin the final week of their electoral campaign marked by a highprofile televised debate between the two candidates in the second round of France’s April 24 presidential election.
A week after the vote, nothing had been decided. The polls show the outgoing president a narrow lead of 53 to 55.5 percent over his farright opponent.
The lead is much smaller than in 2017, when Macron won with 66% of the vote. The challenge of the second round is to convince the undecided and abstainers, who topped 26% of the census in the first round.
It will be particularly important to mobilize the left electorate, the arbiter of this bitter race. Since the end of the first round on April 10, the two finalists from the electorate of radical left leader JeanLuc Mélenchon, who took third place with almost 22% of the vote, have continued to make environmental and social pledges.
Since the publication of the results of the first round, which Macron (27.8%) won ahead of Le Pen (23.1%), the two candidates have resumed their electoral campaign, using displacements, encounters with crowds and participation on the radio and have multiplied on television.
A crucial debate With a week to go before the second round, in a tense campaign context and with the far right closer to power than ever, Wednesday’s televised debate looks set to be crucial.
The traditional duel, which has been played out in the two rounds of all presidential elections in France since 1974, is moderated by a journalist from the public broadcaster France 2 and another from the private broadcaster TF1.
Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron “have a lot at stake,” says sociologist and political communication specialist Philippe Riutort.
In 2017, the debate was disastrous for Le Pen, who acted aggressively and unprepared against the center leader, largely leading to her defeat according to many analysts.
Five years later, the farright leader softened her image, worked on her program and ran a proximity campaign to achieve a more “presidential” profile.
“I’m prepared because I have experience, I’ve worked a lot on the project, I’ve adjusted my project with them (the French), I’ve brought it closer to their realities, to their hopes, a serious project, a balanced, budgeted project,” the candidate said on Friday.
Macron, on the other hand, does not underestimate an “extremely tight” debate, admits his entourage.
Macron, who no longer has the freshness of five years ago, is likely to try to dismantle his opponent’s program by pointing out the radical aspects he tried to cover up in the campaign on issues such as immigration or institutions.
He will also seek to correct his image, which is sometimes perceived as too rightwing among leftwing voters.
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