France election 2022: By letter to the population – Macron announces his candidacy

Created: 03/03/2022, 20:51

By: Andreas Schmid

Current and possibly future President of France: Emmanuel Macron.

© Michel Spingler/AP/dpa

Emmanuel Macron wants to remain President of France.

The 44-year-old has now announced his candidacy by letter.

Paris – He has been silent for a long time, now clarity has been created.

French President Emmanuel Macron* is running for a second term.

The presidential elections in France will take place on April 10th.

France election 2022: By letter to the population – Macron announces his candidacy

Macron addressed his word to the population: "I am a candidate to find a French and European answer to the challenges of the century together with you," said a letter to his compatriots published on Thursday evening.

The newspaper

put a corresponding letter from Macron to the population online, which will also be published in the country's printed newspapers on Friday.

However, he must adapt his election campaign to the current context, including the Ukraine conflict*, Macron wrote.

All information on the Ukraine conflict can be found in our news ticker on the negotiations in the Ukraine war and on the military situation in the Ukraine war.

Currently in demand as a crisis diplomat in the Ukraine conflict: Emmanuel Macron, here with Russian President Vladimir Putin (archive photo).

© Alexei Nikolsky/dpa

France election 2022: Macron is ahead in polls - Le Pen in second place

That Macron is running for a second term is not too surprising.

The incumbent president had never left any doubt that he wanted to run for a second term, but delayed the decision.

In 2017, Macron prevailed in the runoff election with 66 percent of the votes against the right-wing populist Marine Le Pen* and became the youngest president of the "Grande Nation" at the age of 39.

Le Pen will also appear this time - France's right-wing camp, however, seems extremely divided *, which is why Macron's victory is not unlikely.

According to the latest polls, Macron (liberal party La République en Marche) is ahead with 25 percent, followed by the two right-wing populists Marine Le Pen with 17 percent and Eric Zemmour with 14 percent.

According to this, Macron and Le Pen could compete against each other in the runoff election, as they did in 2017.

The right-wing conservative candidate Valérie Pécresse* has dropped to twelve percent after a less than successful election campaign and is almost on par with the left-wing populist Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

None of the other green, socialist and left-wing candidates currently make it into the double-digit range.

6 p.m. on Friday (March 4) is the deadline for presidential candidates to collect the 500 signatures needed from mayors and lawmakers to run for office.

The election will take place on April 10th and 24th.