(International Observation) French presidential campaign enters the final sprint Who can win the first round of voting?
China News Service Paris, April 4 Title: French presidential election campaign enters the final sprint Who can win the first round of voting?
China News Service reporter Li Yang
France's presidential campaign is now in its final sprint, with just one week left before the first round of voting in the April 10 presidential election. According to the list of candidates for the 2022 presidential election published by the French Constitutional Council, a total of 12 candidates participated in the election. Who among them will win the first round of voting?
Source: French President Emmanuel Macron. Photo by Li Yang, a reporter from China News Service
Macron intends to secure the win
French President Emmanuel Macron, who is seeking re-election, intends to secure the victory. He is still ahead of all the other candidates in the polls, meaning macron is likely to be one of the winners in the first round of voting. But the gap in support between his main campaign rival, Marina Le Pen, the candidate of France's far-right National Alliance, is narrowing.
Poll data shows that in the past two weeks, Macron's popular support for Marina Le Pen in the first round of voting has slipped from 15 percentage points to less than 7 percentage points. Macron's approval rating in the first round of voting was 28.5%, and Marina Le Pen's was 22%.
On April 2, local time, French President Macron, who is seeking re-election, held a large campaign rally, emphasizing that his supporters should launch a general mobilization to win the election. France's presidential campaign is now in its final sprint, with just one week left before the first round of voting in the April 10 presidential election. According to the list of candidates for the 2022 presidential election published by the French Constitutional Council, a total of 12 candidates participated in the election. Photo by Li Yue, China News Service
Macron held a large campaign rally on the 2nd, emphasizing that his supporters should carry out a general mobilization to win the election. He described the election as a "contest of progress and retreat," targeting far-right "extremism" and pointing to the dangers that "extremism" poses to French society, without naming and criticizing Marina Le Pen and another far-right candidate, Zemur.
Compared to other candidates such as Marina Le Pen, Macron has run very few campaigns. He only officially announced his re-election bid in early March and devoted much of his time and energy to dealing with the Crisis in Ukraine. He also refused to participate in debates with other candidates before the first round of voting.
Macron has recently repeatedly highlighted to the public the main achievements of his presidency, especially the reduction of unemployment and the stabilization of economic growth. He recently made it clear that he would continue to push for the reform of the retirement system, raising the statutory retirement age to 65, which some political analysts saw as a "courageous decision" but also a political risk to some extent. The reform of the retirement system remains a controversial issue in French society.
On April 2, local time, French President Emmanuel Macron held a large campaign rally in Nanterre, a suburb of Paris, with the intention of strengthening interaction with voters, further boosting the election situation and preparing for re-election. Organizers said more than 30,000 people attended the rally. Photo by Li Yang, a reporter from China News Service
Competitors of the far right and far left
The French presidential candidates, currently in second and third place in the polls for the first round of the French presidential election, are Marina Le Pen, candidate of the far-right "National Union" and Méroncheon, the candidate of the far-left party "Indomitable France" (15.5%). They will be Macron's main rivals, all fighting to reach the second round of voting.
Marina Le Pen, 53, came in second with 21.3 percent of the vote in the first round of the 2017 French presidential election, along with Macron, who had 24 percent of the vote at the time, who won the second round of voting with 66.1 percent of the vote (Le Pen 33.9 percent).
In this presidential election, Marina Le Pen is trying to distance herself from another far-right candidate, the more extreme Zemur, in terms of rhetoric. Her advocacy on immigration remains generally tough, calling for further tightening of immigration policies; she has made multiple claims for enhanced policing and personal safety; and she has said the retirement age should not be postponed.
Mr. Méron- 70, the oldest candidate in the election, has run for the presidency many times before and is a political veteran. In the 2017 presidential election, he finished fourth with 19.6 percent of the vote in the first round.
Mélang-hsiung's campaign platform focuses on improving the living standards and welfare benefits of middle- and low-level people, including raising the minimum wage and limiting the price of basic daily necessities. Mellonson not only opposed the postponement of the retirement age, but also further proposed that the statutory retirement age should be raised to 60. Méron-sur-mer has been endorsed by many left-wing voters, and he is currently the front-runner among many candidates from the left-wing camp.
Where are traditional left-right parties headed?
The French Socialist Party and the Republican Party, as traditional center-left and right-wing parties respectively, once had great influence in French politics. In this presidential election, the socialist party-backed presidential candidate is the mayor of Paris, Hidalgo, and the Republican party has proposed a presidential candidate, the president of the Paris regional council, Pécrés.
Hidalgo and Pekrés currently have no high approval ratings. Pekerez's first-round voting rating slipped from third to fifth, and now has 8.5 percent; Hidalgo's current approval rating is only around 1.5 to 2 percent.
In fact, in the 2017 presidential election, both Socialist and Republican presidential candidates failed to make it to the second round of voting. Former French Prime Minister Fillon, the Republican presidential candidate at the time, ranked third in the first round with 20 percent of the vote. Socialist Candidate Amon at the time received only 6.4 percent of the vote, far behind Mélang-sur-Merant.
Hidalgo and Pékrés may face similar electoral issues, both of whom are in politics in Paris and have a high popularity in the Paris region, but have less influence on a national scale and less in some remote provinces; the voices of the traditional left and right camps have been impacted compared to the platforms of far-left and far-right candidates. If the situation is not reversed in the coming week, candidates from traditional center-left and right-wing parties will hardly be the winners of the first round of voting.
The first round of voting is scheduled for the current French presidential election on April 10 and the second round on April 24. If no one obtains an absolute majority in the first round of voting, a second ballot will be held, with one of the top two candidates in the first round of voting to be elected president. (End)
Source: China News Network