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Agence France-Presse

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen urged France to defeat elitism and oligarchy in elections this month, as she seeks to reach out to left-wing voters to beat President Emmanuel Macron.
Centrist Macron and Le Pen went through to the April 24 run-off vote after finishing first and second in the April 10 first round.
But analysts say that the choice of voters who backed the third-placed candidate, the hard-left Jean-Luc Melenchon, will be crucial in determining the outcome of the vote.
In a major rally in the southern city of Avignon on Thursday, Le Pen, wearing a red jacket, said she was addressing “patriots of the right, patriots of the left”.
“Victory has never been so near,” she told some 4,000 supporters.
Appearing to address Melenchon voters, she said: “Come out and vote. We are speaking to all the French. We hold out a firm hand but one of friendship and respect”.
Her comments came after Macron received a boost when his predecessor as president Francois Hollande, a Socialist, urged the French to back the incumbent in round two as Le Pen “was putting our principles into doubt”.
Hollande told TF1 television he was calling on France to vote for Macron “for the sake of the cohesion of France” and its “European future”.
Macron had earlier this week also won the backing of right-wing former president Nicolas Sarkozy.
Le Pen, who had also been a candidate in the past two presidential elections, is more popular than ever in France, opinion polls show.

Le Pen, who has sought to moderate her image in order to give her the best launch pad yet for the Elysee, said that “we are almost at the end of the road, a long path that has often been steep and hit by gusts”.
Critics allege that the changes have only been in style, with hardline signature policies in place including making it illegal for women to wear the Muslim headscarf in public.
But she urged France to block a new five-year term for Macron to halt “social desolation and national deconstruction” and put an end to “this caste which governs us with arrogance, these few who rule for the benefit of the few”.
France’s Macron steps up fight against Le Pen in far-right bastion
“On April 24, the popular bloc will come face-to-face with the elitist bloc,” she said.
It will be a showdown between the “people and the oligarchy”, she added.
She took aim at Macron, saying he was “not the man of a new era but the last avatar of a system that has run its course”.
“I think the moment has come to put an end to a system that has run out of breath.”
Le Pen’s choice of Avignon for her rally was symbolic as Melenchon had come out on top in the city in the first round of voting.
Macron, who is due to host a major rally Saturday in the southern city of Marseille, on Thursday visited the northern port city of Le Havre where Melenchon also led in the first round.
“I will try and convince all the voters,” he said, as he went on a walkabout in the city which is run by the heavyweight ex-prime minister Edouard Philippe.
The most recent polls have shown a tight contest between Macron and Le Pen on April 24, albeit with signs that the president may be slightly extending a lead.
An Opinonway poll Wednesday showed Macron on 53 per cent and Le Pen on 47 per cent.
But even such a margin is too close for comfort for supporters of Macron, who won over 66 per cent against Le Pen in their run-off encounter in 2017.
A pivotal moment in the final phase of the campaign will come on April 20 when the two meet for their only live debate of the whole campaign broadcast live on French television.
Additional reporting by Reuters


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France

Macron vs Le Pen: France 2022 presidential election enters tight final stretch

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen before delivering a speech in Avignon, south of France, on Thursday. Photo: AP

France’s President Emmanuel Macron. Photo: AP

France’s Emmanuel Macron steps up campaign against Marine Le Pen in far-right bastion

A man walks by campaign posters in Denain, France. Photo: AFP 

Current French President Emmanuel Macron (centre) and local mayor Anne-Lise Dufour-Tonini (centre-left) meet residents in Denain, northern France. Photo: EPA-EFE 

A woman looks at a presidential campaign poster of far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in Paris. Photo: AP

Far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon has told his supporters not to give a ‘single vote’ to Marine Le Pen. Photo: Le Pictorium Agency via ZUMA/dpa

Emmanuel Macron leads Marine Le Pen in first round of French election battle

Supporters of French President Emmanuel Macron react to the polling projections at his election night headquarters in Paris on April 10. Photo: AP

A combination picture shows French presidential election candidates Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron. Photo: Reuters

French Socialist Party (PS) presidential candidate Anne Hidalgo in Paris on April 10. Photo: AFP

Russian President Vladimir Putin with French presidential election candidate Marine Le Pen in Moscow in 2017. Photo: AFP

How Putin’s US$14,000 coat, Zelensky’s green T-shirts and Macron’s air force hoodie send a message to the world

Russian President Vladimir Putin 
wears a US$14,000 Loro Piana coat with a US$3,000 roll-neck jumper at a concert marking the eighth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia, on March 18, 2022. Photo: Reuters

Putin rides a Harley-Davidson Lehman Trike in 2010. Photo: AFP

Putin rides a horse outside the town of Kyzyl in Southern Siberia, Russia, on August 3, 2009. Photo: AFP

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in his signature double-breasted black leather trench coat at a test firing of a rocket launcher in North Korea in 2019. Photo: AP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a T-shirt as he addresses the Ukrainian people during a broadcast speech on March 21, 2022. Photo: AFP

French President Emmanuel Macron in a CPA10 hoodie at the Élysée Palace in Paris, France.

Mao Zedong in Beijing, China, on November 3, 1967. Photo: Getty Images

French far-right presidential candidates Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour fight for limelight

French far-right Rassemblement National party presidential candidate Marine Le Pen speaks during a campaign rally in Reims, France, on February 5. Photo: AFP

Far-right presidential candidate Eric Zemmour at a campaign rally on February 5 in Lille, France. Photo: AP

French President Emmanuel Macron. Photo: DPA

French far-right commentator Eric Zemmour launches presidential campaign

French far-right media pundit Eric Zemmour has officially entered the race for France’s presidency. Photo: AP

French far-right media pundit Eric Zemmour delivers a speech to announce his candidacy for the 2022 presidential election. Photo: AFP

Protesters hold a sign that reads “Less Zemmour, more Love” during a demonstration against political talk show star Eric Zemmour, in Marseille. Photo: AP

News

World

Europe


Victory has never been closer, far-right French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen tells election rally
France’s President Emmanuel Macron, seeking a second five-year term, is slightly ahead in polls



French far-right leader Marine Le Pen urged France to defeat elitism and oligarchy in elections this month, as she seeks to reach out to left-wing voters to beat President Emmanuel Macron.


Emmanuel Macron

Macron vs Le Pen: France 2022 presidential election enters tight final stretch

Victory has never been closer, far-right French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen tells election rally France’s President Emmanuel Macron, seeking a second five-year term, is slightly ahead in polls

Victory has never been closer, far-right French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen tells election rally

France’s President Emmanuel Macron, seeking a second five-year term, is slightly ahead in polls