Battle For France

Emmanuel Macron has the edge as he squares off with Marine Le Pen once again. Winning over the far left will be the key for both of them

- Ajish P. Joy

A FEW DAYS BEFORE the first round of the French presidential elections on April 10, liberal newspaper Le Monde published a cartoon showing President Emmanuel Macron on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Macron was shown turning away from the crowd at an election rally and saying: “Vladimir, I am just finishing with this chore and I will call you back.” As he faces a stiff challenge in the April 24 runoff with far right leader Marine Le Pen in a repeat of the 2017 contest, Macron seems to have realised that his preoccupation with foreign policy and absence from the campaign scene was a major error in judgment. An opinion poll taken on April 10 puts Le Pen at 49 per cent against Macron’s 51 per cent, well within the margin of error.

Macron, who ran as an upstart disruptor in 2017, had been acting like an aloof establishmentarian till the first round of elections. He announced his candidacy only on March 2, just a day before the deadline, and refused to attend a campaign rally till April 2. He shunned debates with other candidates. On March 14, when he took part in a television programme, his team ensured that all of them were interviewed separately. Macron’s strategy was to present himself as being above the rest of the crowd. “His choice to remain as head of state till the end prevented him from becoming a real candidate,” said Vincent Martigny, who teaches political science at the University of Nice.