Incumbent President Emmanuel Macron will face far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen in a run-off for the French presidency, as they both qualified for the first round of voting on Sunday to create another melee. their sharply opposite visions of France. The poll’s forecasts and the partial official vote count show that France is repeating the second round of 2017 that made Mr Macron the youngest president in the country’s history – but without any guarantee this time that the result will be the same. Addressing his supporters, who shouted “five more years”, Mr Macron warned that “nothing has happened” and said that the next two weeks of the campaign for the second round on April 24 would be crucial for our country and for Europe. ». Conrad Jakabuski: French presidential election will exacerbate differences, whether Emanuel Macron wins or loses Stating that Le Pen would align France with “populists and xenophobes”, she said: “It’s not us”. “I want to address everyone who wants to work for France,” he said. He vowed to “implement the work of progress, of French and European openness and independence that we have advocated.” The election result will have a wide international impact as Europe struggles to contain the devastation caused by the invasion of Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mr Macron has been a strong supporter of European Union sanctions on Russia, and Ms Le Pen is concerned about their impact on French living standards. Mr Macron is also a staunch supporter of NATO and close co-operation between the 27 members of the European Union. With two-thirds of the vote counted, Mr Macron and Ms Le Pen had slipped away from hard-line left-wing leader Jean-Luc Melanson in the second round of two candidates in third place. Mr Macron, a 44-year-old political centrist, won a landslide victory five years ago but is preparing for a much tougher run-off against his 53-year-old political enemy. Ms Le Pen promises seismic change for France – both domestically and internationally – if elected the country’s first female president. For months, Mr Macron looked like he would become France’s first president in 20 years to win a second term. But the leader of the National Rally, Ms. Le Pen, in a late rise, raised the key issue in the minds of many French voters: rising costs for food, gas and heating due to rising inflation and the impact of Western sanctions on Russia. The poll’s forecasts put both Mr Macron and Ms Le Pen to improve their performances in the first round of 2017, highlighting how French politics has become increasingly polarized. Mr Macron was expected to win a fairly large lead in the first round, with about 28 per cent support, ahead of Ms Lepen’s projected 23-24 per cent vote. Mr Mélenchon was credited with about 20 percent support. Both Mr Macron and Ms Lepen must now reach out to voters who backed the 10 presidential candidates who lost on Sunday to win the second round. Ms Le Pen seemed to be targeting Mr Melesson’s left-wing supporters in particular, promising “social justice” and corrections for “a France that has been dismantled”. “The French honored me with my qualification in the second round,” Ms Lepen said. Her supporters celebrated with champagne and interrupted her speech with shouts “We will win!” However, some of her defeated opponents were so worried about Ms Lepen defeating Mr Macron that they urged their supporters on Sunday to transfer their votes in the second round to the incumbent. “We must not give a single vote to Mrs Le Pen,” Mr Melanson told supporters who sometimes weep. Describing herself as “deeply concerned”, the defeated Conservative candidate Valérie Pécresse warned of “the chaos that would follow” if Ms Le Pen were elected, saying the far-right leader had never been so close to power. Ms Pekres said she would vote for Mr Macron in the second round. Polls show that only a few percentage points could separate known enemies in the second round. The second round campaign is likely to be much more confrontational than Round 1, which was largely overshadowed by the war in Ukraine. After Ms Lepen left the blue ballot box in the northern city of Henin-Beaumont, she said “given the situation in the country and in the world”, the election result could determine “not only the next five years, but possibly the next 50 years “in France. In the 27-nation EU, only France has a nuclear arsenal and a veto in the UN Security Council. To beat Ms. Le Pen in the second round, Mr. Macron must highlight her many years of trying to change her name to look less extreme, a reshuffle that has even highlighted her love of cats. Mr Macron accused Ms Lepen of promoting an extremist manifesto of racist, destructive policies. Ms Lepen wants to abolish certain rights for Muslims, banning them from wearing headscarves and drastically reducing immigration from outside Europe. Her milder image won some voters, but made others even more suspicious. Yves Maillot, a retired engineer, said he voted for Mr Macron only to make up for Ms Lepen. She said she feared her long-standing hostility to the EU could make her try to pull France out of the bloc, even though she has removed it from her manifesto. “I do not think it has changed at all,” he said. “It’s the same thing, but with cats.” Elaine Ganley, Sylvie Corbet and Patrick Hermansen in Paris contributed Our Morning and Afternoon Newsletters are compiled by Globe editors, giving you a brief overview of the day’s most important headlines. Register today.
