Emmanuel Macron crisis: Le Pen surges as
French election panic sets in for president
EMMANUEL MACRON is facing an unexpectedly tight French election next year
after a new poll showed rival Marine Le Pen hot on his heels.
By JAMES BICKERTON
PUBLISHED: 07:00, Sat, Apr 24, 2021
Marine Le Pen supporters are 'extremely mobilised' says expert.
A recent poll has put Ms Le Pen just a handful of points behind incumbent Mr Macron in the crucial second round of voting. Anger at the EU’s failed coronavirus rollout, immigration and terrorism have sparked a surge in the radical right candidate’s popularity.
Victory for Ms Le Pen would be a big blow for Brussels, as Ms Le Pen is fiercely eurosceptic and is vowing to strengthen France’s borders.
The Jean-Jaures Foundation, a French centre-left think tank, warned conservative voters who rejected Ms Le Pen in 2017 may vote for her this time.
Four years ago Mr Macron won the presidency by an impressive 66 percent to 34 percent. But a new poll has suggested the 2022 contest is likely to be much closer.
A Harris Interactive poll found Ms Le Pen will still lose to Mr Macron in the second round - but by a much smaller margin of 46 percent to 54 percent.
Half of left-wing French voters said they might not bother voting for Mr Macron to beat his far-right rival.
If conservative voters embrace Ms Le Pen and her National Rally party it would shatter the ‘republican front’ which has previously kept the far-right from power.
French presidential elections have two rounds with just the two most popular candidates going into the second-round run-off.
If Le Pen wins the election, what will she do about the Islamization/terrorism problems? Macron has taken some tentative steps in dealing with the issues; one would expect Le Pen to be less gentle.
Even if she loses, but closes the gap between the two parties, she will force Macron to do more than he has been willing to so far.
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