posted on 04/19/2022 06:00
(Image credit: Ludovic Marin/AFP)
If the French presidential election were to take place today, Emmanuel Macron would secure another five years as tenant of the Élysée Palace. Just five days before the election, all 16 polls published since the first ballot on April 10 point to the victory of party candidate Em Marcha! about Marine Le Pen of the National Regroupment. Polls indicate that Macron’s leadership is stabilizing the current head of state would have a lead of between seven and twelve percentage points. In the first round, Le Pen’s campaign managed the feat of closing the initial gap between the two candidates by taking advantage of the rising cost of living in France. At the time, the farright candidate had 23.1% of the vote versus 27.8% for Macron.
A daily poll by the Ipsos Institute shows Macron ahead of Le Pen by 56% versus 44%. For analysts, the final leg of the campaign will focus on issues such as economic, social, immigration, foreign policy and the environment that the current president can benefit from.
Tomorrow, the two opponents will face each other in the first debate before the second round, a key moment for the claims of Le Pen, who had a disastrous performance in the 2017 clash of ideas with Macron. This time, Navy guarantees better be prepared to discuss your proposals with the current President. “I hope it’s going to be a real clash of ideas, not a string of abuse, fake news and excess like I heard last week,” he said during a visit to Normandy.
Yesterday, while taking part in the TV show C à Vous on France 5, Macron launched an attack on Le Pen. When asked why he called her a “candidate of the extreme right”, the centrist replied that the ideas defended by the opponent came from neither the centerright nor the Republican right. “She is part of a family, a clan that has embraced the same ideas. (…) Sometimes they change the facade of the ideas to make them more acceptable, but they are the same ideas, sometimes even harder. The denial of what France is and its identity in the asylum issue. In terms of Europe, it is tantamount to abandoning the euro without accepting it,” he explained, according to Le Figaro newspaper.
referendum
Macron also told TMC’s Quotidien program that next Sunday’s competition will be “a referendum for or against Europe,” “for or against the secular republic and fraternity,” “for or against ecology.” He said he’s outraged that people are saying the two candidatures are worthwhile. “Excuse me, but Madame Le Pen’s project and mine are not the same. The extreme right and what I stand for are not the same,” he said.
In turn, in an interview with Radio France Bleu, Le Pen tried to stick to the more moderate image a strategy he has abandoned in recent days and tried to soften his language. “I want to form a government of national unity, entirely at the service of the French,” he promised. “I am fundamentally linked to the work of General Charles de Gaulle and to this fundamental principle: government of the people, by the people and for the people,” he added, citing the President who ruled France between 1959 and 1969. Le Pen tweeted. also adopted the tactic of confrontation. His campaign team published promotional items that featured the candidate with a color photo and a positive message, while Macron appeared in black and white with a negative message.