French presidential poll narrows as Le Pen starts off on good note

FAR-RIGHT FRENCH presidential candidate Marine Le Pen took a fishing-boat ride on Thursday as two polls suggested the underdog had made a more impressive start to the last lap of campaigning than the favourite, centrist Emmanuel Macron.

Since last Sunday’s opening ballot sent them into a two-way runoff on May 7, the battle has intensified, notably on the public relations front, between two candidates who both say their adversary will ruin the country.

A daily Opinionway poll showed Macron still clear favourite, but his predicted score, which has almost always been 60 per cent or higher over the past fewmonths,dippedto59percent forthefirsttimesincemid-march.

A separate Elabe poll also signalled a potential danger for the favourite: it said one out of two people surveyed considered Le Pen’s last-leg campaign had begun well, while for Macron that positive view of latest developments was a slimmer 43 per cent.

REUTERS