Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen will face each other in the run-off for president of France
French presidential candidates Emmanuel Macron and Marin Le Pen attacked each other at the start of their run-off campaigns, after taking first and second place respectively in the initial vote.
With a little less than two weeks until the last round, every politician wastes no time in slandering his opponent.
“Emmanuel Macron, if accidentally re-elected, would feel completely free to continue his policy of social ruin,” Ms Le Pen said before addressing the cost of living crisis, her usual political line of attack.
For his part, Macron accused the leader of the far-right National Rally party of being a “demagogue” who told people what they wanted to hear.
In response to the results of the first round, Gerard Aro, a former French diplomat who is now a prominent contributor to the Atlantic Council, said his country’s political life is now “more than ever a field of ruin”.
“Macron leads a centrist bloc of nearly 30 percent, but his only reliable opponents are extremists,” Gerard Aro said.
Key points
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Securing Melenchon’s votes is key to Macron’s re-election
The far-left presidential candidate, Jean-Luc Melenchon, won 20.1 percent of the vote yesterday, not far behind the 21.3 percent of Marine Le Pen’s votes.
What his constituents decide to do in the last round of elections on April 24 will have major consequences for both France and Europe.
“Macron needs part of the vote for Melenchon to win. And here things can go wrong “, writes Mary Dezhevski.
Rory Sullivan April 11, 2022 8:48 p.m.
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Photos: Le Pen on the campaign trail
The leader of the national rally, Marine Le Pen, is confident that he can do a better job in governing France than Emmanuel Macron.
However, European leaders are afraid of the prospect of the far-right politician winning the presidency.
Earlier today, Luxembourg’s foreign minister, Jean Asselborn, said: “This will not only be a departure from the EU’s core values, but will completely change its course.”
Here are some photos of Ms. Le Pen during the campaign:
Marin Le Pen arrives in Sousse, Burgundy, on April 11
(AFP via Getty Images)
The leader of the National Rally takes selfies with supporters
(Reuters)
A Le Pen supporter carries the flag of the Susie campaign
(AFP via Getty Images)
Rory Sullivan April 11, 2022 8:13 p.m.
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Le Pen threatens to re-elect Macron
The challenge facing the current French president was unveiled Monday at a bar in the village of Guzon in central France.
After beating her far-right contender Marin Le Pen in the first round yesterday, Macron will face her in the decisive vote on April 24.
The 53-year-old bar owner William Levron explained why Ms. Le Pen is now more popular than Macron in a place that supported him in her place in the last election in 2017.
“We are happy because we want change, real change,” he said, referring to Ms. Le Pen’s entry into the last two candidates.
Rory Sullivan April 11, 2022 7:42 p.m.
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Macron said he would travel to Kyiv if “useful”
Emmanuel Macron said he would travel to Kyiv or elsewhere if “useful”.
“I am ready to go anywhere and even to Kyiv, if it can be useful, if it will help start a dialogue,” he told BFM on Monday.
The statement comes shortly after the French president was criticized by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki for talking to Vladimir Putin in an attempt to end the war in Ukraine.
“What have you achieved?” Did you stop any of these actions? You are not negotiating with criminals, you are fighting them, “Mr Moravetsky said.
Donald Tusk, a former Polish prime minister who later served as president of the European Council, was outraged by the words of his compatriot.
Addressing the French leader, he tweeted: “Mr President, dear Emmanuel, no worthy Pole supports Madame Le Pen, just as no worthy Pole supports Orban or Putin. The vast majority of Poles are for Europe, Ukraine and freedom, despite the nonsense Prime Minister Moravetsky says.
Rory Sullivan April 11, 2022 7:15 p.m.
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Macron and Le Pen exchange bitter words
French presidential candidates Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen have strongly criticized each other at the start of their runoff campaigns.
The day after the pair was selected as the last two candidates in the race, everyone wasted no time in slandering their opponent.
“Emmanuel Macron, if he is re-elected by any chance, would feel completely free to continue his policy of social ruin,” said Ms Le Pen in a rural area southeast of Paris, drawing attention to the cost of living crisis.
While Mr. Macron accused her of being a “demagogue.”
“Mrs Le Pen is a demagogue. She is a person who tells people what they want to hear when they want to hear it, “he told La Voix du Nord on Monday.
Rory Sullivan April 11, 2022 6:53 p.m.
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Photos: Macron’s campaigns in northern France
As mentioned earlier, Emmanuel Macron spent some time campaigning today in northern France, where his far-right rival, Marine Le Pen, has stronger support than him.
Here are some photos from his visit:
The French president arrives in Carvin on April 11
(Reuters)
Emmanuel Macron poses with construction workers in Dennen, northern France
(POOL / AFP via Getty Images)
A Macron poster in Paris is depersonalized with a sticker describing him as “president of the rich”
(AP)
Rory Sullivan April 11, 2022 6:23 p.m.
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French politics is now a “field of ruins,” said the former US ambassador
A former French ambassador to the United States described the political situation in his country as a “field of ruins” after yesterday’s vote.
Apart from the current President Emmanuel Macron, no centrist politician has received significant public support. But populist politicians – Marin Le Pen on the far right and Jean-Luc Melenchon on the far left – have done so.
In response to the first round, Gerard Aro, now a prominent contributor to the Atlantic Council, said: “French political life is more than ever a field of ruin: Macron leads a centrist bloc of nearly 30 percent, but his only reliable opponents are extremists. ”
“All the polls so far show that Macron should win, but with such a small difference that the result can be reversed in the second round of voting on April 24. His victory is anything but guaranteed, “he added.
Rory Sullivan April 11, 2022 6:00 p.m.
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The numbers are moving in the right direction for Macron, the analyst said
Data from Emmanuel Macron’s polls are moving in the right direction after Sunday’s vote, an analyst said.
Mujtaba Rahman, who works for Eurasia Group, a geopolitical risk firm, noted that the latest IFOP rolling poll estimates that Macron will win 52.5% of the vote in the final round, up from his previous forecast of 51%.
“It generally assumes that the numbers are moving in Macron’s direction,” Mr Rahman said.
Rory Sullivan April 11, 2022 5:43 p.m.
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A French center-right party is struggling to survive
Republicans were once the dominant force in French politics.
However, party leader Valery Pekres won less than 5 per cent of the vote in yesterday’s first round of the presidential election.
In addition to suffering its worst result in modern history, failing to reach the 5 percent threshold means that the money the party spent on the campaign will not be partially reimbursed by the state.
Some are struggling with how Les Republicains can recover from this failure. But party activists retain faith in its future.
“I don’t think our party will collapse … If Le Pen loses, it is over and if Macron wins, this will be his last term, so in 2027 he will need something new and we will have to ready, “said Florence Portelli, a spokeswoman for Ms Pecres.
A 67-year-old retired lawyer named Jacques also believes Sunday’s result does not mean the end of the party he supports.
“It’s a slap in the face, but people no longer think rationally and want to be sold a dream,” he said. “There is a risk that the party will explode, but we must regroup now.
Rory Sullivan April 11, 2022 5:20 p.m.
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Who is Marine Le Pen?
National Rally leader Marine Le Pen is now vying for two horses against Emmanuel Macron to become France’s next president.
But who is the 53-year-old far-right politician? And how she has tried to soften her mind, despite pursuing policies aimed at Muslims and immigrants.
My colleague Namita Singh takes a closer look:
Rory Sullivan April 11, 2022 4:56 PM
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