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France Holds Its Breath: Today The Decisive TV Conflict | Israel today

2022-04-19T20:02:18.917Z


The presidential candidate Le Pen, who became embroiled in a corruption case, is trying to fight the image of the far right • Macron continues to widen the gap in the polls


A day before the decisive televised confrontation, which will be broadcast tonight (Wednesday), between the two candidates for the French presidential election - incumbent President Emanuel Macron and populist right-wing National Assembly candidate Marin Le Pen - she released a video in which she denies Macron's claims and her campaign It represents the extreme right.

Le Pen accuses her rival that by tarnishing the image of the far right for her and her party, Macron is working to intimidate the French electorate.

She said fear was the only argument Macron had left to ensure he remained in power "at all costs" and a means of preventing the French from thinking and voting according to their conscience.

"What they do not understand, when they present the great popular hope I represent (for change), as a danger to the republic, is that you are not children," Penn addressed her in a video to French voters.

Le Pen also demanded that President Macron apologize to her and her constituents for calling one of his supporters "racists" at an election conference Macron held this weekend in Marseille.

Macron, for his part, argues that Le Pen's election campaign is based on the French's fear of openness, acceptance of the other and change.

Despite Le Pen's many efforts to break away from the extreme right wing of her party and family, her chances of winning seem extremely slim.

Four days before the presidential election, opinion polls predict a widening gap between the two candidates to 13% in favor of President Macron (56.5% for Macron, 43.5% for Le Pen).

"Fateful Opportunity"

Macron and Le Pen spent most of their time yesterday preparing for the televised confrontation, which will begin tonight at 10 a.m. Israel time.

In the Le Pen camp, the confrontation is seen as a "fateful opportunity" to stop the growing drift in Macron's favor and persuade the 72% of voters in the first round to vote "for change" and the floating and undecided votes to vote for La Pen and not heed other parties' calls to block its way to the Elysee.

The teams of the two candidates are conducting stubborn negotiations over the details of the management of the confrontation, which will take place without an audience.

The previous confrontation between Macron and Le Pen five years ago ended in a heavy defeat for La Pen, which strengthened Macron's victory.

Le Pen will be the first to answer questions from reporters who will lead the confrontation tonight.

The investigation is in focus

At a very problematic time for Le Pen, an investigation was launched this week against her and some of her associates on suspicion of embezzlement of public funds while serving as deputies in the European Parliament.

Also involved in the affair are Marin's father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, the presidential candidate's ex-partner and campaign spokesman Louis Elliott, and another senior member of Le Pen's party leadership.

According to the European Anti-Corruption Agency, the total amount of the embezzlement is more than 617,000 euros (about 2.5 million shekels).

The amount of embezzlement attributed to Marin Le Pen is about 137,000 euros (about 550,000 shekels).

A European Agency report states that these sums, which were intended for parliamentary activity, were spent retrospectively on personal needs, on political activity in France and as payment to companies close to Le Pen's party.

Le Pen claims that the transfer of the report to the French authorities and its publication a few days before the crucial round of the presidential vote are part of an organized EU campaign to undermine its candidacy.

A lawsuit is already being filed against Le Pen over the fictitious employment of her associates while she was a Member of the European Parliament.

Le Pen's niece, Marion Marshall - one of the leading figures in the "new right" movement in France who supported the candidacy of Jewish journalist Eric Zamor for the presidency, has announced that she will join Zamor's party in the run-up to the parliamentary elections.

Marshall was appointed Zamor's deputy leader.

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Source: israelhayom

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