PARIS, April 8 (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday accused his far-right candidate, Marine Le Pen, of lying to voters about her campaign platform while trying to garner support two days before the first round of the presidential election.
Macron, whose re-election seemed a predestined conclusion only weeks ago, now faces a severe challenge from Le Pen. Her solid return to opinion polls has put her victory on the brink of error in some polls.
“Its foundations have not changed: it is a racist program that aims to divide society and is very brutal,” Macron told Le Parisien. “There was a clear strategy (from the Le Pen camp) to hide what was brutal in her program.
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Le Pen told Franceinfo she was “shocked” by Macron’s accusation of racism, which she rejected, saying her program aimed to put French rights first, regardless of their background.
She focused her campaign on purchasing power, successfully softened her image and intervened in the main concern of voters by promising to cut taxes.
“She is lying to people,” Macron said, criticizing Le Pen’s campaign promises as empty promises that she would not be able to finance and that would send investors to flee, leading to mass unemployment.
Although Le Pen has not changed the core of her party’s anti-immigration platform, which would deprive foreigners of many rights and ban the hijab in all public places, she has not focused her campaign on this.
Radical, outspoken views of far-right rival Eric Zemur helped her look more massive, and many left-wing voters told sociologists that, unlike in 2017, they would not vote in the second round to keep Le Pen out of power.
With the exception of surprises, Le Pen is expected to win a ticket on Sunday to face Macron in the run-off on April 24. Macron is still ahead in opinion polls, which still see him as the most likely winner.
But he regretted on Friday that he joined the race late, saying he did it because of the war in Ukraine.
“Who would have known six weeks ago that I would suddenly start political rallies, that I would focus on internal affairs when the war in Ukraine started,” Macron told RTL radio.
“So it’s a fact that I joined (the campaign) even later than I wanted to,” Macron said, adding that he kept “the spirit of conquest, not defeat.”
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Report by Dominique Vidalon, Benoit van Overstraten, Ingrid Melander; Written by Ingrid Melander, edited by Simon Cameron-Moore and Emelia Sitol-Mataris
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