Le Pen, Macron get in last shots

VOTE SUNDAY

PARIS • Far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen said Friday she believes she can pull off a surprise victory in France’s high-stakes runoff election Sunday, while centrist front-runner Emmanuel Macron accused of her of exploiting voter fears.

In an interview with The Associated Press in the final hours of a hostile, topsyturvy campaign, Le Pen said that win or lose, “we changed everything.” She claimed an “ideological victory” for her populist, anti-immigration world view that has dominated a contest that could change Europe’s direction.

Macron acknowledged that the French are exasperated by the government’s ineffectiveness, but he dismissed Le Pen’s vision of an infuriated country, telling RTL radio that she “speaks for no one. … Madame Le Pen exploits anger and hatred.”

The candidates must stop campaigning at midnight Friday to give voters a day of reflection before the election. It’s a stark choice: Le Pen’s anti-immigration, antiEuropean Union platform, or Macron’s progressive, probusiness view.

Tensions marred the race right to the end, as anti-Le Pen crowds disrupted her visit to a renowned cathedral in Reims.

The campaign has been unusually bitter, with voters hurling eggs and flour, protesters clashing with police, and candidates insulting each other on national television — a reflection of the widespread public disaffection with politics as usual.

Le Pen, 48, has brought her National Front party closer than ever to the presidency, riding a wave of populism and growing frustration amid working class voters with globalization and immigration. Even if she loses, she is likely to be a powerful opposition figure in French politics in the coming parliamentary election campaign and beyond.

“Even if we don’t reach our goal, in any event there is a gigantic political force that is born,” she told AP in her campaign headquarters.

Le Pen, who was pelted with eggs Thursday in Brittany, was met by hecklers at the Reims cathedral. She left via an unmarked door, putting her arms over her head as if to protect herself from projectiles, and diving into a black car.

Returning to her headquarters, Le Pen denounced the critics for disrupting a sacred place during her final campaign stop. The site has special meaning for her National Front because it is the cathedral where Clovis was crowned in the presence of Joan of Arc — the party’s icon.

The pro-business Macron, who topped all votegetters in the first-round but is widely disliked, also has been booed and heckled frequently as he visited bluecollar workers.

A string of polls suggested that Macron, 39, had extended his lead by up to four percentage points since the pair clashed earlier this week. These put the leader of his fledgling En Marche! (Onwards) movement on 62.4 per cent in voter intentions compared with 36-38 per cent for the far-right candidate.

Marine Le Pen