Tassilo and Ingrid Melander

PARIS (Reuters), Emmanuel Macron, French President, accused Marine Le Pen, his far-right opponent of lying to voters regarding her platform of “racist”, as he tried to gather support just two days before the start of the presidential election.

It appears that the race is narrowing to two finalists in the 2017 election. While Macron has so far avoided any direct debates, Macron and the other have been increasingly taking aim at one another from afar. On Friday, they spoke their minds clearly.

Macron stated to Le Parisien that there was a strategy from Le Pen’s camp to conceal what she considers brutal in his programme in a Friday interview.

“Her fundamentals are not changing: It is a racist program that seeks to divide society, and it’s very brutal.

Franceinfo reported that Le Pen stated to Franceinfo she was shocked at the allegation. Le Pen dismissed the claim, branding President Obama “febrile” and “aggressive”.

According to her, the programme that includes a “national priority” principle being added to French constitution would not discriminate against anyone based on their origin, as long as they had a French passport.

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Although Macron leads in opinion polls which see him as most likely to win, his reelection is not certain. Le Pen’s strong return in opinion polls places her victory in certain surveys within the margins of error.

The largest gap between these rivals has been revealed by a poll that was conducted on Thursday. Marine Le Pen saw winning 49% votes in the likely runoff against President Trump, making it her highest ever polling score.

Le Pen has centered her campaign on purchasing power. To soften her image and tap into her main concern of voters, she promised to cut taxes, increase some social benefits and worry financial markets while she gains momentum in her polls.

Eric Zemmour is a rival far-right candidate. Her radical and outspoken views make her appear more mainstream. Left-leaning voters tell pollsters that they won’t vote in round 2 to prevent Le Pen from gaining power, which, unlike 2017, has helped them look more mainstream.

Jean-David Levy said that although they might not vote for Marine Le Pen but would prefer to vote against Emmanuel Macron.

“Marine Le Pen is not capable of winning the presidential election.”

A third of the voters remain undecided, according to polls. This makes it difficult for analysts to predict which candidates will be most likely to win in round 2.

Apart from Macron and Le Pen this trend favors far-left veteran JeanLuc Melenchon. He is third on an upward trend with about 17% of the forecast votes.

Christiane Taubira, an ex-minister who lost her attempts to rallie the left behind, was endorsed Melenchon by the left. She said that he is now the only hope of the left.

Macron said that it was a regretful decision to enter the race so late. He stated that the war in Ukraine had forced him into this position.

Macron, who was leaving Paris on his final day ahead of the first election vote, chose to campaign for younger voters in Paris. He also did an evening interview with a media outlet.

Jean-David Levy of Harris Interactive stated that his idea was to demonstrate that young people are behind the president. He also manages to make a dynamic that allows voters on the right to continue their vote (…), without mobilizing voters to the left.”

French Election TAKE-A LOOK