Battle for Democracy: France to Vote for Worldview | Israel today

France is divided, increasingly disappointed by its politicians, far from recovering from the socio-economic crises that have befallen it in recent years one after another and very conflicted with itself will today elect a president for the next five years.

Some 49 million French people will decide today whether, for the first time in 20 years, an incumbent president, Emanuel Macron, will be elected for another term.

The last to be re-elected was Jacques Chirac in 2002.

His next conservative president, Nicolas Scrouse, lost the 2012 election to his socialist rival Francois Hollande, who in the face of his unpopularity decided not to run again in 2017.

Macron is facing for the second time in a row the populist-nationalist right-wing candidate, Marine Le Pen, who has managed to transform herself and her party - the "National Convention", formerly the "National Front" - from a marginal political phenomenon to a central and influential body in the French political arena.

In the previous contest between the two, five years ago, Macron won the election with 66% of the vote.

Le Pen received about 34%.

Recent polls suggest Macron will win with 55-57% and Le Pen will get 45-43%.

Such a defeat, too, if the polls reflect the final results, would be a significant achievement for Le Pen and a political strengthening - especially in light of the mobilization against it by senior Conservative party and other center-left parties calling for Macron to block Le Pen's path to the Elysee Palace.

Two figures will play an important role in deciding tomorrow's voting results.

The first is the percentage of abstentions, which according to the polls will range from a quarter to a third of those with the right to vote - a high percentage that reflects the lack of interest in politics and the disappointment of politicians of a growing number of French people.

Many of those who abstain from voting are young people, who feel that the current political system is corrupt and does not work for issues that concern them.

The second figure is the rather large number of undecided, many of whom are completely opposed to Macron and his policies but are unwilling to vote for Le Pen to express their protest against the incumbent president, due to the far-right image from which she failed to free herself, despite her many efforts.

The main struggle is over the votes of the voters who voted in the first round of the far-left candidate, Jean-Luc Melonson.

Macron and Le Pen continued their election campaign until the last day, which is allowed by law - Friday, in meetings with citizens and in blitz interviews on TV and radio stations, in a last-ditch attempt to persuade those who abstain from voting and those undecided to go to the polls and vote for them.

Both candidates presented their presidential election as a guarantee to protect democracy.

Macron, 44, has stepped up his attacks on Le Pen in recent days, saying she represents the far right, is no different from her father, will rule France as "anti-liberal" as Victor Urban in Hungary and is in fact at the mercy of Putin and Russia over a bank loan. Russian seven years ago and has not yet been fully returned.

In a televised confrontation between the two last Wednesday, Macron also warned that Le Pen's demand to ban the wearing of a veil in public space would result in a "civil war."

Le Pen, 53, for her part, accused Macron, who during his five years as president of a host of French citizens' rights in the fight against the Corona plague, destroyed democracy in France and the country's economy, flooded France with immigrants and weakened French sovereignty in favor of the EU.

Le Pen undertook to restore the dignity and democracy of the French, among other things by holding referendums on important issues - chief among them the issue of banning "chaotic" immigration to France.

Le Pen introduced her rival as a representative of the "cold oligarchy and arrogant elites," who exploited France and its resources for self-enrichment, and criticized him for treating the French with contempt and arrogance.

"Since Macron said the election was a referendum, the question facing the Frenchman is simple: Macron or France?" "What's the point of shouting 'Macron will resign' when you can fire him on Sunday?

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