Macron, whose re-election seemed predetermined just weeks ago, is now facing a tough challenge from Le Pen. Her steady return to the polls has put her victory within the margin of error in some polls. “Its fundamental elements have not changed: it is a racist program that aims to divide society and is very brutal,” Macron told Le Parisien newspaper. “There was a clear strategy (from the Le Pen camp) to hide what was brutal in its program.” Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Le Pen told Franceinfo that she was “shocked” by Macron’s accusation of racism, which she rejected, saying her program was aimed at making French rights a priority, regardless of their background. It has focused its campaign on purchasing power, successfully softening its image and leveraging the main concern of voters by promising to cut taxes. “He is lying to people,” Macron said, accusing Le Pen’s campaign campaign of making empty promises that he would not be able to finance and leading investors to flee, leading to mass unemployment. While Le Pen has not changed the core of her party’s anti-immigration platform, which would remove many rights from foreigners and ban hijab in all public places, she has not focused her campaign on it. The radical, candid views of far-right rival Eric Zemmour helped her look more mainstream, and many left-wing voters told opinion polls that, unlike in 2017, they would not vote in the second round to keep Le Pen out of power. Unsurprisingly, Le Pen is expected to win the ticket on Sunday to face Macron in the second round on April 24. Macron still leads the polls, which still see him as the most likely winner. However, he expressed regret on Friday for his late participation in the struggle, saying he did so because of the war in Ukraine. “Who could have understood six weeks ago that I would suddenly start political rallies, that I would focus on internal issues when the war in Ukraine started,” Macron told RTL radio. “So it is a fact that I entered the campaign even later than I wanted to,” Macron said, adding that he maintained “the spirit of conquest rather than defeat.” French elections Take a look: Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by Dominique Vidalon, Benoit Van Overstraeten, Ingrid Melander; Written by Ingrid Melander, edited by Simon Cameron-Moore and Emelia Sithole-Matarise Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
