Could Marine Le Pen land a shock victory? Macron close to losing French election

Marine Le Pen: I will be a president of all

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French voters will cast their ballots again on April 24 in what could be a closely cut race for the Elysee. Just a few weeks ago, it seemed a certainty that President Macron would secure a second term in office – but his far-right rival Marine Le Pen is now hot on his heels.

After a very delayed start to Mr Macron’s election campaign due to the war in Ukraine and Ms Le Pen’s efforts to focus on France’s various domestic concerns, the gap in their ratings quickly closed.

The National Rally candidate is now within the margin of error to achieve a victory in her third run for office.

The President secured 27.6 percent of the vote and his rival won 23.4 percent, putting Ms Le Pen well within a chance to boot Mr Macron out of office.

Following the result, Ms Le Pen said she would be “president of all French citizens” and called on them to “join her”.

Could Le Pen win the French election?

In the first round of voting, Mr Macron owed much of his success to the centre-right portion of the electorate who abandoned the conservative candidate Valérie Pécresse.

Mr Macron also benefited from the backing of moderate left voters who left Socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo behind on Sunday.

In the 2017 election, Mr Macron essentially wiped out all other centre candidates which gave him France’s top job – and the same has happened in 2022.

But his win opened up avenues for more extreme viewpoints to compete – hence the rise of Eric Zemmour, who has since given his support to Ms Le Pen.

But Ms Le Pen has also been targeting left-wing voters with her newfound passion for social concerns, such as pledging to boost pay and benefits in a country that has longstanding and strong labour laws.

She has also rounded off her sharper edges that arguably saw her lose the last election and are unacceptable to left-wing voters, such as her Islamophobic views and anti-immigration stance – despite the fact these are still front and centre in her manifesto.

For example, the extra money to pay for her tax cuts and pay rises will come from cutting the costs of benefits for immigrants and foreigners.

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Ms Le Pen, much like the left-wing Jean-Luc Mélenchon who came third in the first round, has cultivated a classic populist tactic of taking on the “elite”.

Many have become disaffected with Mr Macron’s style of governance, seeing him as out of touch with ordinary French people.

Both Ms Le Pen and Mr Mélenchon garnered much of their support on the back of this “people versus the elite” dynamic.

But Ms Le Pen’s previous praise of the tyrant Vladimir Putin has come under scrutiny since she began her campaign, and could still thwart her chances in office, particularly if the situation in Ukraine becomes significantly worse in the coming weeks.

Mr Macron has said a Le Pen presidency would make France an outcast in Europe and an ally of the largest warmongering country in recent history.

The fight is now to win over the 22 percent of voters who backed Mr Mélenchon.

Following the result, Mr Mélenchon urged his supporters to give “not one single vote” to Ms Le Pen.

But in the same breath, he did not bring himself to suggest they vote for Mr Macron.

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