France’s Macron and Le Pen head for cliffhanger April 24 election runoff

PARIS (REUTERS) - French leader Emmanuel Macron and his strongest challenger Marine Le Pen qualified on Sunday (April 10) for a presidential election runoff on April 24, pitting a pro-European economic liberal against a far-right nationalist.

With partial results putting Macron in first place ahead of Le Pen after Sunday's first round voting, other major candidates admitted defeat. Except for another far-right candidate, Eric Zemmour, they all urged voters to back the incumbent in two weeks' time in order to block the far-right.

But after five years in power in which his abrasive style has upset many, while Le Pen succeeded in softening her image, Macron will not be able to count on voters’ traditional anti-far right front. 

“Nothing is decided, and the battle we will wage in the next 15 days will be decisive for France and Europe,” Macron told supporters, urging all voters to rally behind him on April 24 to stop the far-right from ruling the European Union’s second-largest economy.

Ifop pollsters predicted a tight runoff, with 51 per cent for Macron and 49 per cent for Le Pen. In 2017, he won with 66.1 per cent of the votes.

Other pollsters offered a slightly bigger margin in favour of Macron, with up to 54 per cent. But that was in any case much narrower than in 2017, when Macron beat Le Pen with 66.1 per cent of the votes.

Le Pen, who had eaten into the president's once-commanding 10-point poll lead in recent weeks, said she was the one to protect the weak and unite a nation tired of its elite.

"What will be at stake on April 24 is a choice of society, a choice of civilisation,” she told supporters, who chanted “We will win!” as she told them: “I will bring order back to France.”

Macron, meanwhile, told supporters waving French and EU flags: “The only project that is credible to help purchasing power is ours.”

With 96 per cent of the votes counted for Sunday’s first round, Macron garnered 27.41 per cent of the votes and Le Pen 24.03 per cent. A near total count of the vote was expected for later in the night.

A Le Pen victory on April 24 would be a similar jolt to the establishment as Britain’s Brexit vote to leave the European Union (EU) or Donald Trump’s 2017 entry into the White House.

France would lurch from being a driving force for European integration to being led by a euro-sceptic who is also suspicious of the NATO military alliance. 

While Le Pen has ditched past ambitions for a “Frexit” or to haul France out of the euro zone’s single currency, she envisages the EU as a mere alliance of sovereign states.

Conservative candidate Valerie Pecresse warned of "disastrous consequences" if Macron lost, while the Socialists'Anne Hidalgo urged supporters to vote for him "so that France does not fall into hatred".

"Not one vote for Le Pen!" added hard-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, who, according to the estimates, placed third with around 20 per cent of the votes.

In a sign of potential troubles for the right, Eric Ciotti, from Pecresse's party, said he would not back Macron.

Zemmour acknowledged disagreements with Le Pen, but said Macron was a worse choice.

As the vote count progressed, Melenchon’s score rose to close to Le Pen’s, with 21.57 per cent of the votes, while none of the others were in the double-digits, leading some supporters to briefly hope for a change in the final line-up, which eventually seemed out of reach.

Not for two decades has a French president won a second term.

Barely a month ago, Macron was on course to comfortably reverse that, riding high in polls thanks to strong economic growth, a fragmented opposition and his statesman role in trying to avert war in Ukraine on Europe's eastern flank.

But he paid a price for late entry into the campaign during which he eschewed market walkabouts in provincial France in favour of a single big rally outside Paris. A plan to make people work longer also proved unpopular, enabling Le Pen to narrow the gap.

Le Pen, an open admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin until his invasion of Ukraine, had for months toured towns and villages across France. She focused on cost-of-living issues troubling millions and tapped into anger towards rulers.

"Marine Le Pen knew how to talk to people about their more concrete problems. During the next two weeks he (Macron) will have to pay more attention to what is happening in France, take a diplomatic break," said Adrien Thierry, a 23-year old supporter.