French voters face stark choice between hope and fear in runo≠

paris» French voters woke up Monday to a runoff battle for the presidency between a candidate who has preached hope for a more open nation and another who has darkly warned that globalization will destroy France.

The victories by Emmanuel Macron, 39, a fresh-faced centrist who has never held elected office, and Marine Le Pen, 48, a battle-hardened nationalist who wants to yank her nation out of the European Union, were a measure of how disgusted voters have become with traditional politicians. Never in the six-decade history of the modern French state have both major left-right political parties been barred from the presidency.

But as leaders from across the political spectrum began to unite behind the centrist candidate in order to deny the farright Le Pen the presidency, the dominant emotion was not the sunny optimism of Macron's stump speech, but simple fear that a victory for his rival could doom France, the European Union and the West.

Macron’s backers acknowledged Monday the risky dynamic, even as they embraced opinion polls that show him with a commanding lead over Le Pen ahead of the May 7 runoff.

“It’s necessary to be humble. The election isn’t won. We must regroup,” Richard Ferrand, the general secretary of Macron’s political movement, said on France's BFMTV news channel.

He said he was “disappointed” that a far-left candidate, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who energized young voters with some of the same approaches as Bernie Sanders in the U.S. Democratic primary, declined to endorse Macron on Sunday night. Mélenchon said his supporters — 19.6 percent of the electorate — needed to make their own decision about what to do next.

Le Pen warned Monday that the nation's political elites were coming together to conspire against her.

“The old rotten Republican front, that no one wants any more, and that the French have kicked out with exceptional violence, is trying to unite around Mr. Macron,” Le Pen said, referring to a successful 2002 effort by politicians across the political spectrum to deny her father the presidency when he made the runoff by uniting in support of his opponent.

Le Pen was relaxed and confident during a stroll through a market in the northern French town of Rouvroy, saying that French voters would not be deceived.

“This is a referendum for or against wild globalization,” Le Pen said, as she passed out fliers that said “Eradicate Islamist terrorism” to venders who were selling cheap plastic kitchen tools on tarps spread over card tables.

Many those who embraced Macron did so out of concern, not enthusiasm.