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Facing the second round of presidential elections in France, on April 24, the candidates who were left out of the contest call on their voters to join the ranks of the president and candidate for re-election Emmanuel Macron to prevent an eventual triumph of far-right leader Marine Le Pen. Only the former far-right candidate, Éric Zemmour, asked his voters to support the deputy of the National Association.
France rearranges its forces before a duel that will repeat the protagonists of the last presidential elections in 2017: Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen.
The Executive will be disputed, in the second round, between an economic and pro-European liberal and a eurosceptic and anti-immigration policy. The passage of the far-right to the last round of the ballot has been received with strong rejection within the political spectrum.
In a strong accolade for the representative of the ruling party La República en Marcha, the majority of candidates defeated in the first round asked their voters to support Macron’s continuity: the Communist Party candidate, Fabien Roussel; the socialist, Anne Hidalgo; Yannick Jadot, of the Greens, and the right-wing candidate of the Republicans, Valérie Pécresse.
J’ai construit mon engagement politique contre tous les extremes.
Even so, et malgré les deep divergences que j’ai martelées au long de la campagne, je voterai en conscience E.Macron pour empêcher l’arrivée au pouvoir de M.Le Pen et le chaos que en résulterait. pic.twitter.com/gfQLSCwyIJ
— Valérie Pécresse (@vpecresse) April 10, 2022
All affirmed that they will support the current 44-year-old president to prevent the 53-year-old extreme right-wing nationalist from coming to power.
“So that France does not fall into the hatred of everyone against everyone, I solemnly ask you to vote on April 24 against the extreme right of Marine Le Pen,” Hidalgo said.
Conservative Valérie Pécresse joined this position by warning of “disastrous consequences” should Macron lose.
“Not a single vote for Le Pen!” said former far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who, according to estimates, came in third place with around 22% of the vote.
But unlike the election five years ago, several polls have indicated that many left-wing voters would not cast their vote for Macron in the second round just to keep the far-right out of power.
The warnings for Macron
Despite the support, the now former candidates also had demands and harsh words for the Elysee leader for some of his unpopular policies in his first term, which have discouraged many voters.
“Emmanuel Macron played with fire,” Pécresse told his supporters.
And in a sign of possible disunity on the right, deputy Eric Ciotti, from Pécresse’s party, said he would not support the current president.
Until just a few weeks ago, opinion polls pointed to an easy victory for the pro-European Union leader, buoyed by his active diplomacy on Ukraine, a strong economic recovery and the weakness of a fragmented opposition.
But the head of state’s late entry into the campaign has taken its toll on him, coupled with his focus on an unpopular plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 65. However, in his favor is the economic recovery shown in recent months and an unemployment rate of 7.4%, the lowest in the country since 2008.
“He is the only one today who has the courage to build the France of tomorrow,” Armelle Savidan, a human resources manager, said after casting her vote for Macron in Paris.
Le Pen, the far-right candidate whose presidential campaigns have focused on eurosceptic rhetoric and aggressive anti-immigration rhetoric, has this time had a new message for voters that has been working: “I’ll put the money back in your pockets.” said in reference to the purchasing power of the French in the midst of inflation rates.
“For a long time we have been known for our views on immigration, but what we present now are the social problems of this country,” said Steeve Briois, mayor of Le Pen’s National Rally party in the city of Henin, in the north of France.
Zemmour, the only former candidate in favor of Le Pen
Éric Zemmour, who also presented himself as a candidate for the Executive for the extreme right, was the only one who spoke publicly in favor of Le Pen, after pointing out that Macron was a “worse option”.
“I have many disagreements with Le Pen. But in front of her there is a man who has let in two million immigrants, who has not spoken about identity in his entire campaign and who will make everything worse if he remains in power. I appeal to my constituents to vote for Marine Le Pen”, emphasized Zemmour, who, according to estimates, received around 7% of the votes obtained on Sunday, April 10.
According to a poll by Ipsos-Sopra Steria and released hours after the results of the first round were known, Macron would obtain 54% of the votes in the second round compared to 46% for Le Pen.
This opens the final stretch to define who will govern the second largest economy in the European Union. The former candidates have spoken, but it remains to be seen where the French will tip the scales on April 24.
With Reuters and EFE
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