Paris, April 24 (Bureau) France will hold the second round of its presidential election on Sunday, with incumbent President Emmanuel Macron fending off the challenge from right-wing National Rally leader Marine Le Pen for the second time. The French president is elected directly by the country’s citizens age 18 and over, living in France and abroad. To become a candidate, one must be nominated by at least 500 elected officials. The election is held in two rounds, with the first one having taken place on April 10 and the second one, between the two candidates with the most votes, this Sunday. In the first round Macron received 27.84% of the vote against Le Pen’s 23.15%.
Earlier in the week, the two candidates clashed in a feisty debate, with Le Pen being eager not to repeat the embarrassment of the 2017 campaign when her abysmal debate performance turned Macron’s win that year from comfortable to landslide, Le Pen having come off as aggressive and incompetent. She did better this time around, staying calm and for the most part sticking to her arguments. It was Macron who appeared to be more combative. While both managed to land some blows, most observers think Macron either came up on top or at the very least had a slight edge over Le Pen.
As the presidential election nears its conclusion, both candidates have unique hurdles to overcome. Despite being seen as more competent, Macron remains highly unpopular across French society, criticized by many either for his policies or attitude, which is seen as arrogant. Le Pen, on the other hand, is not considered as well-suited to the presidential office and has to dodge the shadow cast by her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen. FRENCH JUPITER Macron entered the French presidential race five years ago largely unknown to the masses despite previous tenures as the economy minister and deputy secretary-general of the Elysee Palace. Since then, he has worked hard to become one of the most recognizable politicians in his country, Europe and the world.
Elected as a pro-business candidate, Macron initiated a series of sweeping reforms that, in turn, generated an equally strong backlash in the form of the Yellow Vest movement. During the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, Macron has taken it upon himself to serves as one of the main European negotiators with Russian President Vladimir Putin. This, however, distracted him from France’s domestic affairs, which did not improve his already sketchy image as the “president of the rich” among the public. Nevertheless, Macron promises to strengthen the country’s sovereignty in various areas and help it during turbulent times, promising to raise the retirement age from 62 to 65, decrease inheritance taxes and boost public investment in green energy.
COMEBACK KID Macron’s main rival in the 2017 election, Le Pen had been written off by many following her previous defeat and the rise of another maverick far-right politician, Eric Zemmour, whose more caustic and in-your-face style of campaigning contrasted with Le Pen’s attempts to soften her image. This combination seems to have paid off, however, as Le Pen managed to enter the second round once again, receiving a chance to take her revenge on Macron. While her campaign platform is not that much different from her previous attempts, including promises to abolish birthright citizenship and hold a referendum on immigration, she has dropped the idea of banning dual citizenship or bringing back the death penalty. Instead, she has focused on issues such as the people’s purchasing power, weakened by increased inflation and the current energy crisis.
Le Pen’s major weakness is her perceived links to Russia and Putin, which Macron tried to exploit during the debate by bringing up a loan from a Russian bank to her party and claiming that this makes her dependent on Moscow. The National Rally leader, for her part, explained that she had to turn to Russian banks as it was impossible to receive money from French or European banks. While the polls predict Macron’s victory over Le Pen, it is unlikely that it will be as decisive as the last time and the possibility of the far-right candidate snatching a surprise win still remains.