‘A referendum on the future’
The leaders of Germany, Spain and Portugal have suggested that French voters should re-elect Macron to defend against a farright threat to European values.
French President Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen used the last hours of campaigning to portray today’s presidential election as a referendum on the future of their country, as polls suggested a widening lead for the incumbent.
Final polling averages showed Macron 10 percentage points ahead of Le Pen, after a tight finish in the first round of the election two weeks ago.
But a Le Pen upset victory still remains a possibility. Five years ago, the final polls missed the result margin by nearly nine percentage points, and turnout could play a critical role in the vote.
Le Pen has portrayed herself as a candidate who is close to the people, including those who feel forgotten by Macron’s government.
‘‘April 24 is a referendum on the future of France,’’ Macron said yesterday, in his final interview before the election, comparing the stakes to the 2016 United States presidential election and Britain’s Brexit vote.
Macron’s reelection strategy has largely centred on outreach to left-leaning voters and an attempt to reactivate France’s ‘‘Republican front’’ – a broad coalition of voters to prevent a far-right presidency. Five years ago, that coalition helped Macron beat Le Pen by more than 30 percentage points.
But now, Le Pen has brought the far right closer than ever before to the French presidency – prompting concerns in other European capitals.
In an unusual op-ed published in French centre-left newspaper Le Monde yesterday, the leaders of Germany, Spain and Portugal suggested that French voters
should re-elect Macron to defend against a far-right threat to European values. The piece did not name either candidate directly.
‘‘French people ... have to choose between a democratic candidate, who believes that France is stronger in a powerful and autonomous European Union, and a far-right candidate, who openly sides with those who attack our freedom and democracy, which are the fundamental values we inherited directly from the French Enlightenment.’’
Macron has portrayed Le Pen as more radical than she acknowledges, and as beholden to Russian interests, citing a loan to
her 2017 campaign from a Russian state bank.
In 2017, thousands of internal Macron campaign emails were released by Russia-linked hackers just before the election. It was widely seen as a Russian attempt to boost Le Pen, who had regularly expressed admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin, been highly critical of Nato, and advocated for France to leave the European Union.
During this campaign, Le Pen sought to moderate her image and distance herself from Putin. She condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and said she would welcome Ukrainian refugees in France. But she still opposes an
embargo on Russian oil and gas, and wants a referendum to end immigration.
Le Pen has alleged that Macron doesn’t understand middleclass concerns and that the former investment banker has been a ‘‘president of the rich,’’ who can be aloof and arrogant.
Macron stirred excitement in France when he first ran in 2017, launching his own movement and promising to bring a different sort of politics to the E´ lyse´e Palace. But enthusiasm for him as an incumbent has been more limited.
Some left-leaning voters have expressed frustration that he shifted to the right on issues such as immigration and security.
Hundreds of students occupied university buildings in Paris last week to protest what they said were two disappointing choices in the final round.
Middle-aged voters in France, between 30 and 60, have appeared most open to Le Pen’s campaign. But whereas older voters were largely behind other nationalist victories, like Donald Trump’s US presidency and Britain’s vote to leave the EU, France’s older generation is a key obstacle to a Le Pen victory.
Many in that age group remember vividly what the party stood for before Le Pen took it over from her father Jean-Marie, who called Nazi gas chambers just a ‘‘detail’’ of World War II.
‘‘There are two conflicting trends. Younger generations are much more concerned about racial issues, gender issues, personal and sexual freedom’’ than older voters, said political scientist Antoine Jardin. ‘‘But they are also less likely to perceive Marine Le Pen as a strongly far-right racist person than older voters.’’