The centrist president Emmanuel Macron and the far-right Marine Le Pen launched this Friday the final attack to mobilize their electorate and convince the undecided, in the last hours of the presidential campaign before Sunday’s ballot.
(Read: Macron and Le Pen launch the final assault for the presidency of France)
“The French, with Emmanuel Macron, will be sentenced to life imprisonment,” Le Pen said. at a market in his northern French stronghold, in reference to his rival’s flagship proposal to raise the retirement age from 62 to 65.
(He is interested in: Macron faces Le Pen in a debate marked by Russia and European politics)
The candidate of the National Group (RN), who proposes to advance it to 60 years in some cases, has focused her campaign on showing a less radical image and presenting herself as the defender of the popular classes, before the “president of the rich”.
Marine Le Pen has managed to “advance masked”, but “the fundamentals of the extreme right are there”, reiterated her rival from La República en Marcha (LREM), assuring that her proposals on purchasing power “are not viable” .
The possible loss of purchasing power is the main concern of French voters in the presidential election, whose campaign was also marked by the war in Ukraine, the increase in energy prices and inflation.
But beyond the economic question, the almost 49 million French called to the polls must choose between two models of society and the relationship of this economic and nuclear power with the rest of the world’s countries.
Le Pen53, proposes to inscribe the “national priority” in the Constitution, to exclude foreigners from social assistance, and advocates abandoning NATO’s integrated command and reducing the powers of the European Union (EU).
For his part, the outgoing president, 44, instead advocates “more Europe”, whether in economic, social or defense matters, and recovering his reformist and liberal momentum, with a retirement reform and a minimum income conditioned life.
The latest polls predict a reelection of Macron with up to 57.5% of the vote. In 2017, this former investment banker and former Minister of Economy of the Socialist President François Hollande beat Le Pen with 66.1% of the vote.
Five years later, the keys to access to the Elysee are held by the abstentionists and the voters of the leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchonwhich was left at the gates of the ballot with almost 22% of the votes in the first round.
In an internal consultation of his party France Insumisa, two thirds advocated abstention or the white or null vote. According to a survey of Ipsos/Sopra Steriaa third will vote for Macron and 18% for Le Pen, but half have not yet said what they will do.
The two finalists also fear a demobilization of their voters over the weekend, in full school vacation. According to a recent survey by Ifop and Fiducial, it places abstention at 26%, rising to 48% among Mélenchon voters.
The victory of Marine Le Pen, against which the majority of parties, artists, unions, etc., were called to vote, would represent an earthquake for France and the European Union (EU) and would crown her strategy of “demonization” of her party.
Macron’s re-election for his part augurs new social protests, such as the “yellow vests” that shook the first half of his term, especially against the delay in the retirement age, although he has already said he is open to limiting it to 64 years.
The result of the ballot “will be a good indicator of how the legislative elections will be presented” in June, Gaspard Estrada, a campaign expert at Sciences Po, told AFP. “There is clearly a will for them to be a third round.”
If you win on Sunday, “Macron will face a divided population, an important part of which will have voted for him by discarding”indicates a survey this Friday by the BVA, which underlines that 66% want him to lose his parliamentary majority.
The last “cohabitation” in France dates back to the period from 1997 to 2002, when conservative President Jacques Chirac appointed the socialist Lionel Jospin as prime minister after legislative elections.
Leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon has already called on the French to elect him “prime minister” in parliamentary elections on June 12 and 19. His party, communists and environmentalists are negotiating a common front for these elections.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from AFP
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