Denial in dying days of election
Allegations of fake news and hacking attempts are dominating the end of France’s tense presidential campaign, as centrist Emmanuel Macron (above) and farright rival Marine Le Pen try to win over voters before tomorrow’s runoff.
I HOPE WE WON’T FIND OUT YOU HAVE AN OFFSHORE ACCOUNT IN THE BAHAMAS MARINE LE PEN
ALLEGATIONS of fake news and hacking attempts are dominating the end of France’s tense presidential campaign, as centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right rival Marine Le Pen try to win over voters before tomorrow’s run-off.
Paris prosecutors launched a preliminary investigation on Thursday into whether fake news was being used to influence the voting, as frontrunner Mr Macron and populist Ms Le Pen held their last big campaign events.
There has been intense anxiety in France over the possibility viral misinformation or hackers could influence the vote, as in the 2016 US presidential election.
Those fears have largely failed to materialise. Then on Thursday, Mr Macron’s campaign filed suit against unknown source “X” after Ms Le Pen suggested during their debate on Wednesday that the former banker could have an offshore account.
“I hope we won’t find out you have an offshore account in the Bahamas,” she said.
She appeared to be referring to two sets of apparent forgeries, purporting to show Mr Macron was involved with a Caribbean bank and a firm based on the island of Nevis.
On radio, Mr Macron blamed Ms Le Pen for spreading “fake news” and said he had never held a bank account “in any tax haven whatsoever”.
In a subsequent twist, Ms Le Pen’s campaign said a far-left hacker confessed to repeatedly targeting its website.