Le Pen, meanwhile, is ready for the fight, planning to highlight rising energy and food prices that have hit the poorest households particularly hard recently, as Macron has focused his efforts on seeking diplomatic solutions to the war in Ukraine. The two candidates topped the presidential ballot in Sunday’s first round, regulating their resumption of the duel on April 24, 2017. Macron defeated Le Pen five years ago in the second round of the presidential election, but all polls show that the leader of the National Rally is much closer this time to a possible victory. The outcome of the French elections will have a wide international impact as Europe struggles to contain the devastation caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Macron has strongly supported European Union sanctions on Russia, while Le Pen is concerned about their impact on French living standards. Macron is also a staunch supporter of NATO and close co-operation between the 27 EU members. Macron headed to an economically disadvantaged area of northern France on Monday, where a majority of voters had chosen Le Pen, near its stronghold of Henin-Beaumont. “I’m here and I’m determined to fight,” the 44-year-old president said during a visit to Denain, adding that he had heard people struggling to find work and earn more money. “They need to be reassured,” he said. For her part, Lepen met with National Rally executives to plan a strategy for the second round. Later Monday, Le Pen was to visit a cereal producer in the Burgundy region to talk about rising prices and making “strong, urgent decisions to protect the French purchasing power”. The issue has been at the forefront of her campaign this year, but Macron’s team argues that, given the economic implications of the war in Ukraine, Lepen would not have the financial means to deliver on her campaign promises. Macron said he wanted to flirt with those who voted for the “extremes” or chose to stay at home. He met with residents of Denain, many of whom criticized his proposed retirement changes, which include raising the minimum retirement age from 62 to 65. Mayor Denain Anne-Lise Dufour-Tonini told reporters she would vote for Macron “without hesitation” in the second round, but intends to push for more “left-wing proposals”. Many of the 10 presidential candidates who lost in the first round on Sunday encouraged voters to choose Macron in the second round, including the conservative candidate Valérie Pécresse and the Greens and Socialists. Pécresse warned of “the chaos that would follow” if Le Pen were elected. Far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melanson, who came in third in Sunday’s vote, urged voters not to vote for Le Pen, implicitly implying that staying home could be an option. Le Pen was backed by another far-right candidate, former TV technician Eric Zemour. In her third bid to become France’s first female president, Le Pen was rewarded on Sunday for her long-standing effort to be less extreme. However, Macron did not buy it, accusing Le Pen of promoting a dangerous manifesto of racist, destructive policies. Le Pen wants to abolish certain rights for Muslims, banning them from wearing headscarves and drastically reducing immigration outside Europe. Macron and Le Pen will talk on national television next week. “Our focus now is on work and values,” said Sen. François Patrias, a member of Macron’s party. Le Pen’s camp, meanwhile, hopes to harness its anger against Macron for policies that are seen as favoring the rich. “Everything is possible now,” Aurélien Lopez Liguori, Le Pen’s municipal councilor in the southern city of Sete, told the Associated Press, adding that compared to 2017, “Macron now has a record, a bad record.” French Foreign Minister Clement Bonn told the AP that just five years ago “Le Pen proposed – I must not forget – to leave the euro, to break Europe when Brexit and Frexit were fashionable”. Le Pen has rejected previous threats of France leaving the EU and abandoning the single currency if elected, but some of its proposals, including the creation of a national border control, run counter to EU rules. After counting all the votes in the first round on Monday, Macron had 27.8% support, Le Pen had 23.1% and Melanson was third with almost 22%. The euro rose on Monday to trade 0.27% higher at $ 1.09, indicating investor relief that Macron peaked in the first round.
John Leicester and Elaine Ganley in Paris contributed.
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