The presidential candidate has warned voters tempted not to go to the polls for the second round, drawing a parallel with Brexit and the election of Donald Trump as the voting intentions gap with Marine Le Pen narrows.
As he multiplies attacks on his rival in next Sunday’s elections, Marine Le Pen, the head of state and candidate for his re-election, also wants to warn voters tempted to abstain in the second round of the presidential election. “Voting is a duty,” Emmanuel Macron reminded during an interview on France 5 this Monday, less than a week before the vote.
Voting is a duty. Many have fought for this right. 1500 km, 2000 km from here democracy is being bombed. Democracy is not an achievement, choosing your leaders is a luxury, he said.
With less than a week to go before the second round, Emmanuel Macron is deliberately adopting a more serious tone while closing the gap on his rival in voting intentions.
“Avoid the unthinkable”
Candidate LaREM drew a parallel between the election scheduled for next Sunday and the one that sealed Brexit in the UK in 2016, or Donald Trump’s election to the White House that same year.
Think back to what British citizens said to themselves just hours before Brexit, or those who said to themselves just minutes before the Trump vote, ‘I won’t go’. I can tell you that the next day, I regret not going to the polls. If you want to avoid the unthinkable, choose for yourself, he said.
The president also sent a new message to voters, especially those on the left, who would not recognize themselves in some or most of his ideas and no longer wanted to conform to the Republican front.
There’s something pervading our democratic debate that I find unhealthy: it’s to say that ‘if it’s not exactly my ideas, it’s worthless’. Democracy is the fruit of consensus, of constant compromise, he assured.
With less than a week to go in the second round and less than 48 hours to go before the inter-round debate, the polls give Emmanuel Macron a slim edge over the one he faced five years earlier.