French President Emmanuel Macron is in the pole position to win reelection Sunday in France's presidential runoff, but his lead over far-right rival Marine Le Pen depends on one major uncertainty: voters who decide to stay home.
Macron argued that the loan Le Pen’s far-right party received in 2014 from a Czech-Russian bank made her unsuitable to deal with Moscow amid its invasion of Ukraine. He also said her plans to ban Muslim women in France from wearing headscarves in public would trigger “civil war” in the country that has the largest Muslim population in Western Europe.
In his victory speech in 2017, Macron had promised to “do everything” during his five-year term so that the French “have no longer any reason to vote for the extremes.” Le Pen’s campaign this time has sought to appeal to voters struggling with surging food and energy prices amid the fallout of Russia’s war in Ukraine. The 53-year-old candidate saidShe criticized Macron’s “calamitous” presidency in her last rally in the northern town of Arras.
Political analyst Marc Lazar, head of the History Center at Sciences Po, said even if Macron is reelected, “there is a big problem,” he added. “A great number of the people who are going to vote for Macron, they are not voting for this program, but because they reject Marine Le Pen.”Macron has vowed to change the French economy to make it more independent while still protecting social benefits. He said he will also keep pushing for a more powerful Europe.
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