PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron, seeking re-election on Sunday, has acknowledged his failure to quell some of the anger felt in the country and which his far-right rival Marine Le Pen was using to drive her campaign.
Two days before the vote, the centrist, pro-European incumbent leads his anti-immigration, eurosceptic challenger in opinion polls by about 10 points.
But a likely high level of abstention and anger with some of Macron’s policies - and his sometimes abrasive style - mean his re-election is no done deal.
“She has managed to draw on some of what we did not manage to do, on some of the things I did not manage to do to pacify some of the anger, respond quickly to what voters want,” Macron told France Inter radio on Friday, speaking of his rival.
He added: “The far-right lives on fears and resentment.”
Macron, Le Pen back on campaign trail after heated debate
Three separate surveys published on Thursday after a tense TV debate showed Macron’s score either stable or slightly rising to reach between 55.5% and 57.5%.
But they also put the turnout rate at between 72% and 74%, which would be the lowest for a presidential run-off since 1969.
This and a certain degree of voter indecision ahead of Sunday mean a surprise Le Pen win similar to events such as Brexit and the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president cannot entirely be ruled out.
Le Pen, whose policies include a ban on Muslim headscarves in public, giving French nationals priority on jobs and benefits, and limiting Europe’s rules on cross-border travel, says Macron embodies an elitism that has failed ordinary people.
“He does not like the French,” she told Europe 1 radio on Friday.
Saying she had the common sense of a mother, Le Pen slammed Marcon’s perceived arrogance in the TV debate, accusing him of disdain - towards her and towards voters.
“His mandate has been a succession of humiliating comments,” she said.
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