French election 2022 live: Latest polls as Macron and Le Pen offer final pitches to
Watch live as French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen holds rally in Arras
Emmanuel Macron maintains a 12 point poll lead over Marine Le Pen, the far-right challenger in the French presidential election, after a heated television debate on Wednesday night.
As the election campaign entered its final days both candidates returned to the campaign trail to drum up what support they could before the vote on Sunday.
Mr Macron, the centrist president hoping for re-election, visited the Saint-Denis suburb of Paris while Ms Le Pen, who positions herself as a voice of the neglected working class, was in the northern industrial region of Hauts-de-France.
In Saint-Denis, the president warned the crowd against his opponent, saying: “We must not get used to the rise of far-right ideas”.
Ms Le Pen, at a rally in the city of Arras, accused Mr Macron of “unlimited arrogance” in both Wednesday’s debate and the five years of his presidency. She said he was soft on immigration and called his economic record “catastrophic”.
Leaders of Germany, Spain and Portugal backed Mr Macron on Thursday.
Macron says EU cannot allow new iron curtain
Some more from Emmanuel Macron’s media interviews this morning.
The president said the EU nations must not allow a new iron curtain to fall across the continent – but it was also important to take account of differing views within the bloc towards Russia and the war in Ukraine.
Zoe Tidman22 April 2022 08:58
Marine Le Pen says she has ‘spent eight months trying to drag French away from abstention’
Both candidates are doing media rounds as the election approaches.
“I’ve spent eight months in this presidential campaign trying to drag French out of abstention,” Marine Le Pen said this morning.
The far-right leader said she believed the split between the French people and their representatives can be closed with “democratic utensils” including proportional representation and referendums triggered by the population itselfs.
Zoe Tidman22 April 2022 08:49
Le Pen drawing on anger I haven’t quelled, Macron says
Emmanuel Macron has said he had not managed to quell some of the anger felt in the country and that his far-right rival Marine Le Pen was using some of that in her campaign.
“And there we have it. She has made some progress, she has covered herself up by turning this into our problem, and she has managed to draw on this,” the president – hoping to be re-elected at the weekend – told France Inter radio.
Zoe Tidman22 April 2022 08:05
Tory and Brexit supporters back far-right Marine Le Pen, poll suggests
Conservative and Brexit supporters want far-right candidate Marine Le Pen to become president of France, a poll by YouGov has suggested.
At least 37 per cent of Tory voters backed the right-wing leader, while just 24 per cent support the centrist Emmanuel Macron.
The two will go head-to-head in a critical run-off on Sunday, with polls putting Mr Macron as little as six points ahead of his rival.
The margin is even greater among Leave voters at the 2016 Brexit referendum, who prefer Ms Le Pen over the current president by 35 per cent to 19 per cent.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar22 April 2022 07:30
Le Pen calls on voters to choose ‘between Macron and France’
At her final campaign rally in Arras, far-right candidate Marine Le Pen urged voters to choose between “Macron and France”.
“To block [Macron], you cannot abstain, you must vote,” she told her supporters, according to France24.
She added: “You must vote for the only front that is truly republican, the anti-Macron front.”
Slamming her opponent’s “unbounded arrogance”, Ms Le Pen projected herself as a nationalist “president who will respect the French” compared to Mr Macron “who does not like them”.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar22 April 2022 07:00
Macron and Le Pen make last effort to win presidential race
Incumbent French president Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen made a last-ditch effort on Thursday to woo voters ahead of Sunday’s presidential election.
While Ms Le Pen headed to her stronghold in Arras, Mr Macron visited the multicultural Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, where the far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon made massive inroads during the first-round vote.
According to French election rules, all campaigning must end by Friday midnight.
Following Wednesday’s fiery marathon debate, Mr Macron has a six to 13 point lead over Ms Le Pen, according to the latest opinion polls.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar22 April 2022 06:28
Macron warns Muslim voters against consequences of electing Le Pen
Incumbent French president Emmanuel Macron in the last leg of the campaign tried to woo disaffected left-wing voters and warned them against the consequences on the Muslim community if his far-right rival Marine Le Pen is voted to power.
While visiting the multicultural Paris commune of Saint-Denis, Mr Macron accused his rival of trying to exclude…
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