Casablanca – In the 2022 presidential runoff, French voters are casting their ballot to choose between centrist incumbent Emmanuel Macron and far-right politician Marine Le Pen.
While Macron easily defeated the far-right politician Le Pen in the 2017 presidential race, opinion surveys show Macron with a strong lead. However, analysts have warned that poor turnout might shift the vote in any direction.
Although Macron’s popularity has dipped since 2017, the war in Ukraine has bolstered his prospects of re-election, particularly in light of Russia’s renewed onslaught in the east and the widespread perception of Le Pen as a poster child of right-wing Putinism.
Because purchasing power and security are the two main issues that this election has been contested over, Marine Le Pen’s tenacious focus on inflation and the cost of living has considerably improved her standing with French voters in this year’s electoral showdown.
Macron won by a landslide when he confronted Le Pen in the second round of the 2017 elections. This time round, however, most observers expect a tight contest.
According to Telegraph polling, Macron is now leading by five percentage points, with 52% of the surveyed planning to vote for the centrist incumbent. But since turnout is critical to securing victory, and with the initial vote results, analysts have warned that Macron’s camp must not take anything for granted.
Le Pen, on the other hand, is swiftly catching up. After trailing by more than 20 points less than a month ago, she is currently polling significantly higher than she did in her face-off with Macron five years ago.
The National Rally (former National Front) candidate has notably managed to boost her first-round vote share — slightly higher than at the same time for the first round two weeks ago — to 23.4% (becoming 26.41% at noon on Sunday), garnering the most votes in 39 of France’s 95 mainland regions, according to the French Interior Ministry.
Still, many expect Macron to win today’s showdown by a thin margin.
Le Pen has indubitably fared better in this year’s electoral contest. But the seemingly prevailing perception is that the majority of French people — especially those from minority groups — see today’s vote as a choice between the largely failed, underwhelming presidency of Macron and the far more disastrous alternative of a far-right presidency.
This means French voters are now facing a sort of “Sophine’s choice” as they choose between an aloof and condescending incumbent who has not kept his promises, and a far-right alternative that many fear will be far worse and much more devastating for France and its standing on the global stage.
Leftist journalist Edwy Plenel has spoken of the“sorrow” that many French voters, himself included, will be facing today as they opt for the “Macron ballot paper to vote against Le Pen in order to ward off the catastrophe and horror that will take hold of us if” the far-right candidate is elected. But, he added, “This is about voting against her [Le Pen], and certainly not for him [Macron].”
