One week before the second and crucial round of the French presidency, incumbent President Emmanuel Macron is stabilizing and even widening the gap between him and the populist right-wing candidate, Marine Le Pen.
Polls published over the weekend predict that Macron will win the election with an 8% -10% advantage over his opponent (54/55% vs. 45/46%).
In a match between the two that took place five years ago, Macron won by a margin of 32%.
Macron once again enjoys a fairly extensive mobilization of voters, who have chosen in the first round of voting other candidates from left and right.
However, the high abstention rate, which is expected to be repeated in the second round (one in four French people did not vote), and the narrowing of the gap in the polls compared to the previous presidential election are very irritating in Macron's camp.
In an effort to encourage young people and leftists to vote for him, Macron delivered a speech yesterday in the southern port city of Marseille that dealt mostly with his program for environmental protection, which he said was intended to make France "the great nation of ecology." "Main Avenue vehicles in central Paris in protest of the fact that the two presidential candidates do not take the issue of climate protection seriously and demanded that they publish clear commitments for action on this level."
Macron reiterated that the next election is a struggle against the "extreme right" that feeds on "fear, satisfaction and sometimes our failures."
Macron excited the Alps at the rally near the port of Marseille, the largest in southern France: "The vote on April 24 is a referendum for or against the EU, for or against ecology, for or against young people, for or against this republic. A new beginning of hope, of a climate of aspirations. "
Marseille is a multicultural city, considered a stronghold of the left in the south dominated for the most part by the nationalist and conservative right.
Macron once again warned his supporters that victory in the upcoming elections was not guaranteed and pledged that if victory was achieved his camp would have to redouble its efforts "to succeed where we failed, where we were too slow".
Macron, who continues to present himself as an opponent of the "political system" has made it clear that he wants the next term to be very different from its predecessor.
"It can not be continuity, it must be a complete renewal, a reinvention, a new aspiration, we must return to the places where we failed, to start anew with new methods," Macron declared, moving on to the theme of his keynote speech - a detailed plan to make France a power A leading global ecologist.
"National holiday for nature"
Macron has promised that his next prime minister will be directly responsible for addressing the issue of environmental protection, and he will be assisted by two ministers: an energy planning minister who will work to make France the first country in the world to get rid of gas, fuel and coal dependencies;
And Minister of National Ecological Planning.
Macron called for a "national holiday of nature," to be celebrated once a year as the "holiday of music," to be held on the first Saturday of May and to be a "great moment of national unity."
The incumbent has warned that Le Pen's far-right will violate France's ecological commitments, drive away international investors, undermine freedom of the press and religion, work for France's exit from the EU and move away from Germany, establish a military alliance with Russia, hurt men, Will abolish the rights and citizenship of immigrants and increase the gap between rich and poor.
Photo: AFP // Emanuel Macron,
Even Marin Le Pen, who continues her political tours around France, continues to flex her positions to attract left-wing voters: for the first time she backed away from her outright opposition to wearing veils in public space by Muslim women and made a distinction between older women , And girls who are obligated by their parents to do so and are not given a personal choice.
Le Pen said the remarks during an exchange with an elderly Muslim woman wearing a veil, who approached her with interest during an election tour.
The two candidates are preparing for the televised confrontation between the two, which will take place on Wednesday evening.
The confrontation five years ago severely hurt Le Pen's campaign, as she did not prepare herself properly for the confrontation and did not show orientation on many issues.
This time, Le Pen is preparing very intensively for a confrontation with the help of experts and consultants.
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