Before presidential run-off, Emmanuel Macron appeals to Jean-Luc Mélenchon voters

By Alexangre Lemairié
 April 23, 2022

Walking through crowds, handshakes and promises. The day after the televised debate that pitted him against Marine Le Pen, and three days before the presidential election run-off, Emmanuel Macron went to Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis, Paris region) on Thursday, April 21, to continue his operation to win over leftist candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon voters.

In front of the town hall of this working class town, where he was welcomed by socialist mayor Mathieu Hanotin at noon, Mr. Macron sought to give pledges to this strategic group, which he has been courting since the La France Insoumise candidate, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, came third in the first round, with nearly 22% of the vote. “All the residents of our working-class neighborhoods are an opportunity for our country,” said the current tenant of the Elysée palace, explaining his visit as a desire on his part to “send a message of ambition and consideration to all neighborhoods,” “too often stigmatized.” “We do not solve any problems by putting aside a part of our society,” he continued, in order to distinguish himself from his far-right opponent.

Published at www.lemonde.fr

The French election doesn’t end on Sunday: Round 3 is on everyone’s mind

By Gilles Paris
Apr 22, 2022

Hello, it’s lunchtime in Paris and the official campaigning period for the presidential election will end today at midnight, forcing the country’s politicians to remain silent until 8 p.m. on Sunday. Emmanuel Macron will hold his last rally in the southwestern town of Figeac while Marine Le Pen will hit the trail in her strongholds in the North of France.

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What happened on Thursday? Marine Le Pen held her last rally, in Arras (North). She returned to her attacking rhetoric by calling for an “anti-Macron front”.

Why does it matter? After a campaign centered on the purchasing power issue, the far-right candidate revived a populist discourse that opposes “the people” and “the silent majority” to the “self-proclaimed, arrogant and self-righteous elite”.

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