The second presidential run in France will be between President Emmanuel Macron, a candidate for his own succession, and Marine le Pen, in a return match from the 2017 campaign, according to observers. But for the candidates, it is absolutely necessary not to forget that Marine le Pen “has not changed” and that she is just “pretending” to have softened.
Wanting to be comfortable and like the people’s candidate, Marine Le Pen, however, embodies the descendants of the National Front party, hated and despised in her father’s time. She is trying to make her way through this presidential election by seeking to display a less sensational image than that embodied by the polemicist Eric Zemmour.
But in Emmanuel Macron’s camp, we denounce the “imposture” of the candidate who still embodies the National Front despite the change of name. The far-right candidate, who makes immigration her party’s main doctrine, is running for the third time in the presidential election, including a second against Emmanuel Macron.
She declared herself “serene”, affirming “to feel on the ground a great dynamic, a hope which rose at the end of the campaign”. According to polls of intention to vote, she would be right after President Emmanuel Macron who, he declares himself to be left and right.
This campaign had a hard time unleashing passions like the previous ones, nearly a week before the first round. The French are more interested in the coronavirus pandemic, the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Many are also waiting to see the first round pass before deciding.
Issue of this presidential, purchasing power is at the heart of the debates especially since the repercussions of the crisis in Ukraine on the prices of energy and basic products. Marine Le Pen placed herself at the Rungis wholesale market to sing the “France of the morning workers” and criticize that of “the assisted and the profiteers”.
But for the other far-right candidate Eric Zemmour, who seems to be gradually moving away from the game, the media have shown “benevolence” and “complacency” with Marine Le Pen. This obviously worked against her since she nibbled at her electorate by wanting to position herself as a more “reasonable” candidate.
Meanwhile, Emmanuel Macron received the mayor of the Ukrainian city of Melitopol on Friday at the Elysee Palace and again met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and is preparing a big meeting on Saturday near Paris.
His supporters, like Prime Minister Jean Castex, went to the south-east, to a far-right niche to tell them that an election of the far-right candidate would be a “catastrophe ” for France.
Marine Le Pen “makes people believe that she has changed, that she has become more flexible, more centrist almost, but that is a sham. She has not changed”. The presidential “is not played” and “everyone must mobilize” he argued.
For his part, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, seems to consolidate his third place with 15% of voting intentions but only 2 candidates will pass in the 2nd round. The latter hopes that a republican front can allow him to pass in the second round, in order to block the far right, but at the moment, the French political scene is far from standing up and could play into the game of the extreme right, according to some voices who fear that for the first time, France is yielding to the calls of hatred.