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Rabat – The 2022 French presidential election campaign has officially begun with 12 candidates – including current president Emmanuel Macron – in the race to become the next leader.
During the campaign, which kicked off on Monday, March 28, Macron’s ‘Republic on the Move’ is facing presidential hopefuls who have previously run to become the leader of the republic and others who are competing for the first time.
Leftist candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, Marine Le Pen on the National Rally, right-wing candidate Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, “Lutte Ouvriere” candidate Nathalie Arthaud, and New Anticapitalist Party candidate Philip Poutou have all taken part in previous campaigns.
New to the race are socialist party candidate Anne Hidalgo, Greens/ European Free Alliance candidate Yannick Jadot, Communist party candidate Fabien Roussel, far-rightist candidate Eric Zemmour, right-wing republican candidate Valerie Pecresse, and the candidate of “Resistons” party Jean Lassalle.
Several of the candidates have been campaigning for months. However, new rules were introduced in the final fortnight leading up to the first-round vote on April 10.
Candidates will have a fair chance to be heard by voters. Each candidate will receive equal speaking time and equal TV and radio airtime, regardless of their polling results or political standing.
In addition, the state allocates money to each candidate to produce a short political program that will be broadcast on public television during primetime.
The main topics discussed during the campaign are purchasing power, security, immigration, the health crisis, and the Russia-Ukraine war.
If no candidate wins an absolute majority of the votes in the first round, a second round for the leading candidates will take place on Sunday, April 24.
As the official campaign began, the latest poll by OpinionWay for the French Les Echos newspaper placed Emanuel Macroc at the top with 28% of the votes followed by Le Pen (24%) and Jean-Luc Melenchon (14%). Pecresse (11%) and Zemmour (10%) ranked fourth and fifth.
Zemmour received intense criticism following his rally in Paris on Sunday, March 27, with his supporters shouting “Macron assassin”.
Pecresse was among those to criticize Zemmour for letting the crowd continue chanting.
“I will fight the outgoing president with all my strength, but letting an opponent be called a murderer is dangerous for the republic. This is definitely not right! This is not my France,” Pecresse said in a tweet.
