Le Pen fighting uphill battle to win
FRANCE: Warnings against the dangers of globalisation and terrorism and efforts to portray rival Emmanuel Macron as the establishment candidate will be at the heart of Marine Le Pen’s campaign for the May 7 French election runoff.
While aware opinion polls give Le Pen no chance of winning, the National Front (FN) hit hard on those themes right at the start of the between-the-two-round campaign, seeking to attract disgruntled far-leftists and rightwingers.
A one-on-one against an exbanker backed by politicians of all stripes wanting to form a dam against the FN gives Le Pen the perfect opportunity to boost her anti-establishment appeal, even if pollsters say that is not enough for her to win.
Her canvassing at a market in the unemployment-ridden small town of Rouvroy, in northern France, on Monday morning, saying the run-off would be a referendum against globalisation and slamming the ‘‘rotten’’ alliance of mainstream politicians against her, set the tone.
‘‘I’m convinced a big majority of French are opposed to rampant globalisation,’’ Le Pen said, in between selfies, in a town where she got more than 40 percent of the votes on Sunday and far-leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon, also a harsh critic of globalisation and the political mainstream, came second.
Le Pen’s closest aides were out and about on morning media shows pressing that point and saying that those who backed Melenchon were within reach for Le Pen.
‘‘The left-right divide is something of the past and the new divide is between the globalists and the patriots,’’ Gaetan Dussausaye, the head of the FN Youths and a member of Le Pen’s campaign committee, said. ‘‘We saw that last night and it will be at the heart of the campaign between the two rounds.’’
Le Pen won 21.3 percent of the votes on Sunday, behind Macron’s 24.01 percent and her campaign immediately sent an email to supporters urging them to spread social-media tailored messages on the ‘‘real Macron’’.
‘‘The real Macron is the establishment’s candidate,’’ one of those messages said.
Melenchon got 19.64 percent on Sunday and, though a fervent opponent of Le Pen for years, he has so far refused to say who he will back in the run-off. Le Pen’s anti-establishment, antiglobalisation chord could resonate with some of his voters.
At a bar in northern Paris, where Melenchon held his electoral night vigil, his supporters were split on the issue.
Analysts said Le Pen might find more support amid right-wing voters worried by security issues and Europe’s open borders, who backed either conservative Francois Fillon or nationalist Nicolas Dupont-Aignan in the first round and might balk at backing Macron, a moderate centrist.
Opinion polls on Monday saw Macron attracting at least 60 percent of the votes on May 7.
Sylvain Crepon, an FN specialist at Tours university, says Le Pen cannot bridge the gap with Macron this time, but pressing those themes is vital for the party’s future and its role in the reorganising of a political landscape shaken by a campaign which has seen both the major left-wing and right-wing parties tumble. ‘‘They’re preparing for afterwards, for 2022,’’ Crepon said, referring to the next election. Reuters