Macron confident as far-right rival closes in
PARIS » President Emmanuel Macron said Friday he has no fear of losing France’s presidential election, despite conservative rival Marine Le Pen narrowing the gap in opinion polls days before the firstround vote.
Still, suspense is the watchword in Sunday’s voting to choose the top two among a dozen contenders, with a predicted low turnout that could help decide the race.
“I have the spirit of conquest rather than the spirit of defeat,” Macron, a centrist, said in an interview with RTL radio on the final day of campaigning. But he cautiously added, “Nothing is ever a given.”
Le Pen, running in her third presidential race, has consistently placed second behind Macron in polls. She has appeared to close the gap even further according to latest polls, which have given a difference of between 1 and 6 points between the two.
If the polls mirror election results, Macron and Le Pen would repeat the 2017 scenario, squaring off in a second round April 24. Macron won by a landslide five years ago, taking 66% of the vote to Le Pen’s 34%.
This time, polls forecast things to be much closer.
Le Pen has expended much energy to take the edge off her National Rally party to make it more appealing to voters. She has softened her image even more and made purchasing power the centerpiece of her campaign. But she hasn’t give up on her key themes: stopping the “migratory submersion” and “eradicating” political Islam.
“If Emmanuel Macron had enriched the country, excuse me but we wouldn’t be talking about purchasing power,” Le Pen said at her final rally Thursday evening in the southwest town of Perpignan whose farright mayor, Louis Aliot, is her former companion.
Macron denounced the far-right as “playing with the fears” of people, in an interview with French online media Brut on Friday evening. “When I look at far-right views, whoever the candidate is ... there are lots of links to conspiracy theories, and for two years of pandemic, everything and its opposite was said, quite worryingly,” he said.
“And then, there are short-term proposals, sometimes not making financial sense at all or demagogic, like on purchasing power,” he added.
Macron stressed the unemployment rate decreased from about 10% to 7.4% during his term and vowed, if reelected, to reach “full employment.”
Macron chose the online media to do his last interview before Sunday’s vote in efforts to reach out to young voters. Macron cited his presidential duties, notably his diplomatic efforts over the war in Ukraine, to justify his absence during much of the campaign.
Turnout could be the deciding factor in the election and could harm Le Pen’s chances most because her working-class support base is composed of voters who tend to stay at home on election day.