Marine Le Pen

A flurry of early projections and exit polls showed incumbent Macron came first with 28.1-29.5% of the vote, followed by Le Pen on 23.3-24.4%. The surging cost ...

Le Pen, seen as economically left-wing despite being very much affiliated with the far fight in France, has been highly focused on the cost of living. Support for Macron had jumped following Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and his mediation efforts earlier this year. Most of the mainstream candidates that failed to make the runoff immediately backed Macron after the exit polls came in, with Mélenchon telling his supporters there "must not be one single vote for Le Pen in the second round." But it's an issue that his opponent Le Pen, who heads up the anti-immigration National Rally party — leveraged significantly in her campaign. A flurry of early projections and exit polls showed incumbent Macron came first with 28.1-29.5% of the vote, followed by Le Pen on 23.3-24.4%. The different projections showed different tallies but all pointed toward a runoff between Macron and Le Pen in two weeks' time, with the gap between the two not as tight as some political analysts had been predicting. French leader Emmanuel Macron and his far-right rival Marine Le Pen topped the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, according to exit polls, and are set to face off in the final vote on April 24.

We'll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest French presidential election news every morning. Emmanuel Macron and his far-right rival Marine ...

France's presidential runoff will likely see Emmanuel Macron face off against Marine Le Pen for a second election in a row, but the woman challenging ...

Le Pen visited the Russian strongman during her 2017 campaign for president She is best known as a member of the French far-right's first family. The strategy appears to have worked.

President Emmanuel Macron is set to face his nationalist rival Marine Le Pen in the final round of the French election, according to projections by polling ...

If the 2022 French election is today largely posed as a duel between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, it has also been marked by the civil war between two ...

In contrast, Zemmour stayed true to the traditional far-right argument of “ the shield and the sword.” In this revisionist perspective, Marshal Pétain is framed as the “shield,” protecting the French people from the inside, whereas de Gaulle was the “sword” fighting for France’s liberation from abroad. However, the fact that his polling has remained stable, at around 10 percent, seems to not only demonstrate that Zemmour’s voice still remains influential — it also hints at the resilience of the traditionalist line that is carefully waiting to assess its future. One example is her frequent references to the Christian roots (racines) of France, echoing the controversial expression français de souche (the French of French stock) to refer to French people with an alleged ethnic purity. Fighting against the pejorative “far right” label, Le Pen has over the years embraced a reframing of her nationalist agenda as a struggle between the “patriotic French people” against a failing political establishment that has repeatedly betrayed its promise to protect the people. Although his predicted vote share has now dwindled to 10 percent, his sudden emergence in the political field made him a threat to Le Pen’s campaign, where he was in turn framed as a factor of division that might weaken their whole camp. In a nutshell, populism articulates a society in crisis where an elite is failing in its duty to represent and act on behalf of its people, and where radical change is embodied through the salutary intervention of a transgressive leader. Zemmour is much more explicit about his reactionary vision of France than Le Pen: where both aspire to a return to a simpler time, when the nation was supposedly glorious and stronger, Zemmour makes nostalgia a central point of not only his speeches but also his political communication. Immediate success in the polls saw him rise to a third position below Macron and Le Pen as he contested a share of her vote, making her fall from 23 percent to 16 percent as he himself began polling at 16 percent. However, Le Pen was not always so subtle in her attacks against Zemmour. In a long interview for his former employer Le Figaro, she lambasted Zemmour’s campaign for relying on “sound and fury,” an implicit reference to not only Faulkner’s original work but also to the more recent Fire and Fury, Michael Wolff’s infamous book about Trump’s chaotic presidency. Le Pen knew that her niece’s rallying to Zemmour was only a matter of time, so used the upcoming betrayal as an opportunity to further humanize herself. He argues that her search for dédiabolisation — to “de-demonize” her party — led her too far from the far right’s nationalist fundamentals. During this campaign, Zemmour has been candid about his bid to rejuvenate the project of the “ union of the right wings,” which he sees as the only way to challenge Emmanuel Macron’s hegemony over the political center.

Fears of a low turnout and overall volatility have plagued the first round of France's presidential election.

She did a terrible job on television in a debate with Macron about EU policy, and at that time she wanted to leave the EU, like Britain did. “It’s something that he comes under a lot fire from the other candidates for, but I think it’s also something that drives this sense of frustration with people feeling that they’re being offered no alternative to him, that he simply doesn’t recognize the realities of their lives.” She’s steadily gained traction since her first contest in 2012, coming in second to Macron in the first round of the 2017 elections, with 20.75 percent of the vote to his 23.39 percent. But although the prediction ended up coming true, that second-time pairing makes it clear that France’s traditional parties have all but imploded, and it’s not clear what — if anything — party leaders intend to do about it. In those efforts, critics contend, he comes off as too focused on international problems and blind to the issues which affect French people the most. That’s due to a combination of factors, both Dennison and Berezin said. Dennison told Vox this frustration is a key factor in the chaotic polling leading to the first-round elections. Because traditional left parties like the Greens and the Socialist party aren’t polling high, some voters who might choose those candidates in the first round might feel they have no alternative to Macron and that it’s not worth turning out to vote. France’s elections are divided into two rounds: The first round selects the two frontrunners, and the second selects the winner, who has a five-year mandate to govern. And although his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic has earned praise from the French public, he’s largely unpopular with the country’s more left-leaning population. The run-up to the first-round elections wasn’t the first indication of that shift — far from it, according to some observers — though the level of political volatility it revealed was unexpected. “What is becoming sort of complicated about the election this time around, and what is sort of frustrating a lot of voters in France, particularly those on the left — because there has been, at least until [Jean-Luc] Mélenchon started pulling forward, no real candidate on the left that had any prospect of getting through to the second round — is that I think a lot of people feel that they’re being forced to vote tactically in the first round,” Dennison said.

Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen appear to be the leading candidates in the first round of the French presidential elections, an analysis of early results ...

Surveys ahead of the race showed that a second round of Macron vs. While his ambitious plan to bolster the European Union's autonomy and geopolitical heft won him respect abroad and at home, he remains a divisive figure when it comes to domestic policies. Far-right political commentator turned presidential candidate Eric Zemmour, who enjoyed a seat among the top three candidates until March according to IFOP polling, came in at 7%. While Macron appears on track to win the first round, he is a polarizing figure whose approval rating has lagged during his first term. Macron is seeking to become the first French president to win reelection since Jacques Chirac in 2002. Twelve candidates were running for the top job.

La mayoría de los candidatos derrotados han solicitado a los electores apoyar al actual presidente para derrotar a la candidata de extrema derecha.

Agregó que sería la "presidenta de todos los franceses" si fuera elegida. En esta ocasión, el país europeo celebrará la elección decisiva el 24 de abril ya que ninguno de los 12 candidatos actuales alcanzó el 50% de los votos, necesarios para ganar en primera vuelta. En su discurso tras conocer los resultados, Macron solicitó a los franceses detener a la extrema derecha. "Complacer al populismo y la xenofobia, eso no es Francia", sostuvo. En tercer lugar, cerca de la líder de Agrupación Nacional, se situó el candidato de izquierda Jean-Luc Mélenchon con un 21,6%. En su sede de campaña, luego de la publicación de los primeros resultados, Le Pen pidió a aquellos que no apoyaron a Macron que voten por ella en la segunda vuelta.

PARÍS.- Este domingo, el presidente centrista Emmanuel Macron fue el candidato más votado y se enfrentará a la ultraderechista Marine Le Pen en el.

“El próximo día 24 se juegan dos visiones de la sociedad, la de la división y el desorden o la de la unión de los franceses en la justicia social y la protección. Todos los que no han votado a Macron están invitados a sumarse a esta unificación”, dijo Le Pen, que rondó el 25 % de los sufragios, según las estimaciones, tres puntos menos que el presidente. La votación, celebrada tras una atípica campaña marcada por la invasión rusa de Ucrania, agudiza además el declive iniciado en 2017 de los partidos tradicionales -los socialistas y Los Republicanos (derecha)-, que lograrían menos del 10% de votos en total. Le Pen pidió el voto a todos aquellos que no le han apoyado a este en la primera. Con el 85% de los votos escrutados, Macron obtiene un 27,4% de los votos y Marine Le Pen el 25,05 por ciento. Pido a mis votantes que voten por Marine Le Pen”, dijo a sus partidarios tras ser eliminado de la contienda en la primera ronda. En cambio, el candidato de la extrema derecha francesa Eric Zemmour, instó a sus seguidores a votar por Le Pen. “No me equivoco sobre quiénes son mis oponentes.

(CNN) — Emmanuel Macron y Marine Le Pen parecen ser los principales candidatos tras la primera vuelta de las elecciones presidenciales de Francia, según muestra ...

Las encuestas antes de la votación mostraron que una segunda vuelta de Macron contra Le Pen era el resultado más probable. Macron ya no es un recién llegado a la política y se postula con un historial mixto. Si bien las encuestas le dan una ventaja constante, la carrera se estrechó significativamente el mes pasado. Pero una segunda vuelta está casi garantizada: ningún candidato presidencial francés ha ganado nunca en la primera vuelta bajo el sistema actual. El presidente de Francia, Emmanuel Macron (centro), junto a su esposa Brigitte Macron (izquierda), habla con un residente antes de votar en la primera vuelta de las elecciones presidenciales el domingo. Una mujer elige sus papeletas en la primera vuelta de las elecciones presidenciales francesas en Lyon, en el centro de Francia, el domingo.

El actual presidente, el centrista Emmanuel Macron (27,6%) y la candidata ultraderechista Marine Le Pen (23%) pasaron al balotaje en la primera vuelta de ...

La ultraderechista apuesta por el restablecimiento del delito de estancia ilegal y quiere obligar a los funcionarios a “denunciar” la presencia de migrantes irregulares. La migración vuelve a estar en el centro de la contienda electoral. En términos de seguridad, el presidente planteó en enero un programa para competir con los postulados de la derecha más radical. "Las políticas que quiero implementar no están destinadas a los mercados bursátiles, lo que será un cambio respecto a Emmanuel Macron", dijo Marine Le Pen durante la campaña electoral. Los sondeos dan una ventaja de cuatro puntos al actual presidente frente a la candidata de la ultraderecha— EL PAÍS (@el_pais) https://t.co/kToTT3bTqa pic.twitter.com/CCO1xGeAKQ April 10, 2022 Las líneas clave de sus programas electorales definirán el rumbo del país el próximo quinquenio. Por su parte, Marine Le Pen opta en su programa por la eliminación a las subvenciones a las “energías intermitentes”, al relanzamiento de los sectores hidroeléctrico y nuclear, así como a fortalecer la inversión en hidrógeno. Las propuestas de Macron también van en la línea del refuerzo de los controles fronterizos en la Unión Europea, de la supeditación del permiso de residencia de larga duración a la superación de un examen de idioma y una inserción laboral. Macron y Le Pen pasan a la segunda vuelta electoral en Francia, según las primeras estimaciones. Por su parte, el programa de seguridad de Marine Le Pen pasa por el establecimiento de la legítima defensa para los agentes de las fuerzas del orden, la inscripción de los acosadores callejeros en el fichero de delincuentes sexuales, la creación de 25.000 nuevas plazas de prisión para 2027, la eliminación de la posibilidad de reducir las penas de cárcel, el establecimiento de penas mínimas y la multiplicación del número de magistrados. La candidata se burló de las "afirmaciones catastróficas" de los inversores y dijo que su programa económico es "serio". Le Pen apuesta por aumentar el apoyo a las empresas y "devolver dinero a los franceses" con reducciones de IVA y a las contribuciones de Francia al presupuesto común de la Unión Europea. El centrista propone un incremento de 15.000 millones de euros en la partida de fondos para la seguridad en los próximos 5 años, un aumento del 20%. También apunta a multiplicar los recursos destinados a las fuerzas de seguridad y a doblar el número de agentes “antes de 2030”.

If the 2022 French election is today largely posed as a duel between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, it has also been marked by the civil war between two ...

In contrast, Zemmour stayed true to the traditional far-right argument of “ the shield and the sword.” In this revisionist perspective, Marshal Pétain is framed as the “shield,” protecting the French people from the inside, whereas de Gaulle was the “sword” fighting for France’s liberation from abroad. However, the fact that his polling has remained stable, at around 10 percent, seems to not only demonstrate that Zemmour’s voice still remains influential — it also hints at the resilience of the traditionalist line that is carefully waiting to assess its future. One example is her frequent references to the Christian roots (racines) of France, echoing the controversial expression français de souche (the French of French stock) to refer to French people with an alleged ethnic purity. Fighting against the pejorative “far right” label, Le Pen has over the years embraced a reframing of her nationalist agenda as a struggle between the “patriotic French people” against a failing political establishment that has repeatedly betrayed its promise to protect the people. Although his predicted vote share has now dwindled to 10 percent, his sudden emergence in the political field made him a threat to Le Pen’s campaign, where he was in turn framed as a factor of division that might weaken their whole camp. In a nutshell, populism articulates a society in crisis where an elite is failing in its duty to represent and act on behalf of its people, and where radical change is embodied through the salutary intervention of a transgressive leader. Zemmour is much more explicit about his reactionary vision of France than Le Pen: where both aspire to a return to a simpler time, when the nation was supposedly glorious and stronger, Zemmour makes nostalgia a central point of not only his speeches but also his political communication. Immediate success in the polls saw him rise to a third position below Macron and Le Pen as he contested a share of her vote, making her fall from 23 percent to 16 percent as he himself began polling at 16 percent. However, Le Pen was not always so subtle in her attacks against Zemmour. In a long interview for his former employer Le Figaro, she lambasted Zemmour’s campaign for relying on “sound and fury,” an implicit reference to not only Faulkner’s original work but also to the more recent Fire and Fury, Michael Wolff’s infamous book about Trump’s chaotic presidency. Le Pen knew that her niece’s rallying to Zemmour was only a matter of time, so used the upcoming betrayal as an opportunity to further humanize herself. He argues that her search for dédiabolisation — to “de-demonize” her party — led her too far from the far right’s nationalist fundamentals. During this campaign, Zemmour has been candid about his bid to rejuvenate the project of the “ union of the right wings,” which he sees as the only way to challenge Emmanuel Macron’s hegemony over the political center.

Emmanuel Macron wins the first round, but the run-off against his far-right rival may be far closer.

She has built her campaign around the cost-of-living crunch facing much of Europe, promising to cut taxes and waive income tax for under-30s. But in the end, the spring sunshine meant turnout was not as low as feared, at almost 75%. Mr Macron's team is already planning a series of big rallies and major TV appearances. Ifop pollster François Dabi said his company's 51%-49% estimate was the closest they had ever predicted. Later in the evening, Mélenchon activists gathered outside his campaign HQ thinking he might even come second, but it was not to be. The battle for votes now starts in earnest.

Emmanuel Macron y Marine Le Pen parecen ser los principales candidatos tras la primera vuelta de las elecciones presidenciales de Francia.

Le Pen visitó al presidente ruso durante su campaña de 2017, pero esta vez se vio obligada a descartar un folleto con una foto de ambos en ese viaje, después del ataque de Rusia contra su vecino. Macron se mantuvo liderando la mayoría de las encuestas previas a las elecciones. Las encuestas antes de la votación mostraron que una segunda vuelta de Macron contra Le Pen era el resultado más probable. Las encuestas lo mostraron liderando constantemente sobre los demás los aspirantes, y se consideraba seguro su paso a la segunda ronda. Macron ya no es un recién llegado a la política y se postula con un historial mixto. El apoyo a Le Pen ha crecido sostenidamente en las últimas semanas.

La líder de la extrema derecha francesa presentó así el duelo de segunda vuelta del 24 de abril: “Por un lado, la división, la injusticia y el desorden, ...

A veces tememos que Francia no vuelva a ser Francia. Lo que queremos precisamente es que con Marine Le Pen recuperemos el país que queremos”, indicó Monique, una ex concejala del partido. “Yo vivo en el departamento de Yvelines, y en nuestros barrios se vuelve imposible. La líder de la extrema derecha francesa presentó así el duelo de segunda vuelta del 24 de abril: “Por un lado, la división, la injusticia y el desorden, impuestos por Emmanuel Macron para unos pocos. “Lo que se jugará el 24 de abril será un voto no solo circunstancial, una decisión en términos de sociedad y de civilización. Su voto impactará en todo el territorio francés para la preponderancia legítima de la cultura y de la lengua francesas, de los usos y costumbres de nuestras regiones. Esto le valió burlas del candidato Eric Zemmour. Y en realidad, resultó ser la preocupación principal de los franceses. Gente que gana 2000 euros ya no le alcanza”, dijo a RFI Philippe, un responsable del partido en el departamento de Essonne, en el sur de la región parisina.

President Emmanuel Macron and far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen are headed for another winner-takes-all runoff in France's election.

Pecresse said she would vote for Macron in the runoff. Melenchon voter Jennings Tangly, a 21-year-old student of English at Paris’ Sorbonne University, said the second-round match-up was an awful prospect for her, a choice “between the plague and cholera.” But National Rally leader Le Pen, in a late surge, tapped into the foremost issue on many French voters’ minds: soaring costs for food, gas and heating due to rising inflation and the repercussions of Western sanctions on Russia. He vowed to “implement the project of progress, of French and European openness and independence we have advocated for.” Macron also is a firm supporter of NATO and of close collaboration among the European Union’s 27 members. Savvier and more polished as she makes her third attempt to become France’s first woman president, Le Pen was rewarded Sunday at the ballot box for her years-long effort to rebrand herself as more pragmatic and less extreme.

While earlier forecasts projected a comfortable win for Mr Macron in his re-election bid, Ms Le Pen has been narrowing this lead in recent weeks. According to ...

Ms Le Pen has insisted that French law prevails over the EU rules and would employ thousands more customs agents to check goods entering France, including those from other EU countries, to fight fraud. She also aims to scrap income tax for those under 30 and cut Vat on energy from 20 per cent to 5.5 per cent, reported Reuters. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. While earlier forecasts projected a comfortable win for Mr Macron in his re-election bid, Ms Le Pen has been narrowing this lead in recent weeks. When she was attacked by her far-right rival Eric Zemmour for “going soft”, she shot back saying: “Let me teach you about humanity.” With her party receiving a bank loan from a Russian bank in 2014 and Ms Le Pen being hosted by Mr Putin at the Kremlin ahead of the 2017 presidential election, the presidential hopeful has been accused by her opponents of being too close to Moscow.

Critics warn she's changed her style but not her far-right values. This time though, Le Pen appears much more palatable to many voters.

But I've met Melenchon supporters who've already told me they would vote for Le Pen in a run-off. By making the cost of living her central theme, she appealed to a broader church of voters. It's now or never for her - and many in her party feel this is their moment.

France's presidential runoff will likely see Emmanuel Macron face off against Marine Le Pen for a second election in a row, but the woman challenging ...

Le Pen visited the Russian strongman during her 2017 campaign for president She is best known as a member of the French far-right's first family. The strategy appears to have worked.

French president emerges in lead but tranche of far-right voters likely to transfer support to Le Pen.

Here, the far-right candidate appeared to be preaching to the converted, as just under 38% of the 871 people who voted locally chose her, and just under 22% Macron. Mélenchon has emerged as a potential kingmaker in third place after he rose to within a few points of Le Pen at just under 22% in a surprising 11th-hour surge. He also said he would “develop” his programme after listening to the “anger and despair” of those who had not voted for him, and particularly young people’s concerns over the environment. Others in the crowd that mobbed him as he walked around wanted to talk about the rising cost of living and concerns about jobs and health. We will be discussing how to revitalise our democracy and explain my manner of governing. “I want to convince our compatriots who voted for [Le Pen’s] the National Rally or who abstained to join us. Le Pen’s greatest support came from 50 to 59-year-old voters. More than 3.2 million voters who chose other far-right candidates including Éric Zemmour are likely to transfer their support to Le Pen. It was announced on Monday that Macron and Le Pen will go head-to-head in a televised debate four days before the vote, during which they will be questioned about their programmes. “We will be speaking about agriculture and being self-sufficient in production and inflation. But more than anger I am hearing worry.” “I see the divisions and anger in the country and I hear the voices of those who have voted for the extremes, even those who voted for Madame Le Pen,” he said.

STIRING-WENDEL, France— Marine Le Pen wants to remove French forces from the command of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and claw back powers from the ...

Instead, she has framed her candidacy around voter frustration with the rising cost of living, drawing millions of voters across middle- and working-class France who feel ignored by President Emmanuel Macron. You may cancel your subscription at anytime by calling Customer Service. STIRING-WENDEL, France—Marine Le Pen wants to remove French forces from the command of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and claw back powers from the European Union. She also aims to amend France’s constitution to limit the place of immigrants in French society.

President Emmanuel Macron will face a runoff against far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, following Sunday's first round of balloting.

BEARDSLEY: You know, she sort of avoided the war in Ukraine as much as she can. He's been a president of the rich and elites. And the third-place candidate very close to Le Pen is far-right (ph) leader Jean-Luc Melenchon. Believe it or not, he told his voters not to support the far right, but he didn't go so far as to endorse Macron. And the thing is the far left has a similar socioeconomic platform as the far right. They're against big finance and globalization that helps the elites and corporations. BEARDSLEY: Right. Well, Macron has 27 1/2 percent of the vote and Marine Le Pen 23 1/2. So it's a four-point spread. You know, basically, a populist would govern a major European nation. And this sets up a rematch for Macron and Le Pen, who faced each other in a presidential runoff five years ago. You know, first of all, the general context - French voters have moved to the right overall, and she's enlarged her base this time around. To the opposite, Marine Le Pen had a very long, solid campaign, and she kept it about bread-and-butter economic issues - purchasing power, the cost of living, which turned out to be the No. 1 concerns of the French. Here's her headquarters, where I was last night, her excited supporters chanting, Marine president. His whole schtick was about French identity and how immigration is ruining France, and Islam is incompatible with French values. French President Emmanuel Macron is heading into a runoff election with far-right rival Marine Le Pen. The two candidates beat out 10 others in a first round of voting yesterday. And then he was occupied with the war in Ukraine. He even refused to debate ahead of the first round.

President Emmanuel Macron will face a runoff against far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, following Sunday's first round of balloting.

BEARDSLEY: You know, she sort of avoided the war in Ukraine as much as she can. He's been a president of the rich and elites. And the third-place candidate very close to Le Pen is far-right (ph) leader Jean-Luc Melenchon. Believe it or not, he told his voters not to support the far right, but he didn't go so far as to endorse Macron. And the thing is the far left has a similar socioeconomic platform as the far right. They're against big finance and globalization that helps the elites and corporations. BEARDSLEY: Right. Well, Macron has 27 1/2 percent of the vote and Marine Le Pen 23 1/2. So it's a four-point spread. You know, basically, a populist would govern a major European nation. And this sets up a rematch for Macron and Le Pen, who faced each other in a presidential runoff five years ago. You know, first of all, the general context - French voters have moved to the right overall, and she's enlarged her base this time around. To the opposite, Marine Le Pen had a very long, solid campaign, and she kept it about bread-and-butter economic issues - purchasing power, the cost of living, which turned out to be the No. 1 concerns of the French. Here's her headquarters, where I was last night, her excited supporters chanting, Marine president. His whole schtick was about French identity and how immigration is ruining France, and Islam is incompatible with French values. French President Emmanuel Macron is heading into a runoff election with far-right rival Marine Le Pen. The two candidates beat out 10 others in a first round of voting yesterday. And then he was occupied with the war in Ukraine. He even refused to debate ahead of the first round.

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron may be ahead in the presidential race so far, but he warned his supporters that “nothing is done” and his ...

Macron will use the next days to “go in the field,” he said. “Our focus is now on the project and the values,” Senator Francois Patriat, a member of Macron’s party, said. That’s what he sought to do in the northern town of Denain Monday by campaigning on his rival’s home ground. On her third attempt to become France’s first woman president, Le Pen was rewarded Sunday for her years-long effort to rebrand herself as more pragmatic and less extreme. Macron already faced Le Pen in the presidential runoff five years ago. The duel is starting Monday, after the two came out on top in Sunday’s first-round vote.

Could Marine Le Pen be about to become France's first far-right president? She's battling Emmanuel Macron in the second round of the election.

While Le Pen and Macron offer two competing visions for France, the election will ultimately be decided by voters who backed other candidates. He's the one who should have been hammering her with it, but he's been too busy being the president and hasn't spent enough time being the candidate. She has spoken fondly of Vladimir Putin in the past, and more recently cautioned against imposing sanctions that could hurt the French economy. And that’s partly because Marine Le Pen has been working extremely hard for more than a decade to tone down the party’s image," said Murray. But this time it's too close to call: A poll from iFop for the broadcaster TF1 on Monday showed Macron at 51 percent, a lead so slim it's within the margin of error. She knows how to charm the target electorate."

France's 2022 presidential race is down to the same 2017 candidates: incumbent Emmanuel Macron and the far right's Marine Le Pen.

In the wake of the results, there have been calls for a barrage to block Le Pen’s advancement. Populist Le Pen, who has ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and was one of the first international politicians to celebrate Donald Trump’s U.S. presidency, has attempted to soften her image and that of her anti-immigration party, by focusing on economic issues and playing to the countryside. In 2017, Macron beat Le Pen in a landslide final with 66% of the vote. While he has not proposed a replacement, allies have suggested funding would come from the state. While the war in Ukraine continues to dominate most headlines, the French media has naturally been focused on the election throughout yesterday and today. Newspapers in far-flung corners of the globe are not giving as many column inches as in 2017 — which saw a historic first round in which France’s major political parties did not advance.