Emmanuel Macron is battling his career to persuade left-wing voters – many who have taken to the streets to oppose his government for the past five years – to come next Sunday and give him a second term.
Both Macron and Le Pen have to win a share of the 7.7 million people who voted for the radical left-wing candidate Jean-Luc Melanchon, who narrowly fell in the first round last week.
In the city of Trapp, southwest of Paris, where almost 61% of voters chose Melanchon, opinions on what to do next are divided.
Le Figaro suggests that “on the presidential highway, Emmanuel Macron is trying to make a thin turn to the left.” But when asked what Macron could do to woo the left, Trapp’s mayor, Ali Rabeh, a former member of the Socialist Party, turned the issue around. “Honestly, it would be better for him to remain silent, because every time he opens his mouth, he irritates our voters and this encourages them not to vote or to vote empty,” said Rabe, who campaigned for Melenchon.
“If Macron is to say something, it should be a clear message of compromise, not a vague one, such as lowering his retirement proposal to 65 and 64 and a half. People don’t sleep that much; it’s just a game of fire. “
Melenchon advised his supporters that “no vote should go to Madame Le Pen”, but made it clear that the vote in the second round was the equivalent of, as the French say, or “plague or cholera” for those on the left. Rabe believes – reluctantly – he has no choice.
Far-right presidential candidate Marin Le Pen in Avignon, southern France, on Thursday. Photo: Daniel Cole / AP
“Le Pen is in a position to win and if he does, it will be the most vulnerable, the minorities, the immigrants, the undocumented ones who will suffer the most. I’m not going to campaign for Macron, but I don’t think we have a choice. We should not underestimate the support of the far right. “
Last Sunday he saw an unexpected jump for Melanchon, which ended close behind Le Pen. Almost 22% of voters chose the leader of the radical left, La France Insoumise (France Unbowed), and now feel “politically orphaned”, Rabe said.
Polls show that 30% of Melenchon voters can vote for Macron, 23% for Le Pen, and the rest will abstain or vote empty next Sunday.
Trappes, whose most famous inhabitants are the actor Omar Si, the footballer Nicolas Anelka and the French comic Jamel Debuz, has a large immigrant population, many of them with North African roots.
The far right claims that the city is a hotbed of religious radicalization. In February, Jordan Bardella, the current leader of Le Pen’s far-right organization, the National Unity, was formally investigated for hate speech after describing the city as an Islamic Republic. Rabe, the son of Moroccan immigrants, describes this as an unfair stigma.
At the Trappes market on Friday, 52-year-old Clement Likvengi, a fire safety adviser, said: “People here will never vote for Le Pen for the simple reason that it is a policy of division. I think people in France are forgetting that Macron revived the French economy, reduced unemployment and took care of people during the Covid crisis. He did the job. “
The late Jean-Luc Melenchon, who is already out of the race. Photo: Alain Robert / Sipa / Rex
He said he would vote for Macron next Sunday and hoped his 27-year-old son and 19-year-old daughter, who are enthusiastic supporters of Melanchon and “extremely disappointed” by his defeat, would do the same.
Thierry, 59, a builder who did not want to give his full name, voted for Melenchon in the first round, but said he would not support any of the candidates in the second. “There is nothing Macron can tell me that will change my mind. He already has 10 years in public life, five in the Ministry of Finance and five as president, so we know what he has done and will do.
“I will vote, but I will vote empty. Of course, I am worried that Le Pen will win, especially for the community here in Trapp, but, as we say, fear will not stop the danger.
Chania Mauch, 47, who was shopping with her 16-year-old daughter Gaul, said family and friends voted for Melenchon in the first round. She admitted that many have not decided on the latter.
“We were disappointed with Melenchon. “I think half will vote for Macron and half will not vote at all,” she said.
Melenchon consulted with 315,000 party members to resolve a collective answer to the question of who to vote for on Sunday. In a letter to supporters, he wrote: “Both are not the same.”
Manon Aubrey of Melenchon’s La France Insoumise told the Observer that it was not for the party to guide people on how to vote, but added: “We know that Le Pen is dangerous. If both candidates have contempt for the working class, it adds contempt for race; if both offer liberal policies, it adds xenophobia. “
Describing Macron as the “worst”, she added: “We have nothing to negotiate with him. He must say what he will do to respond to the anger that many feel towards him. “
It was this anger that sparked protests at several universities, including the Sorbonne and Sciences Po, last week, with students shouting “Neither Macron nor Le Pen.”
On Friday, a group of elderly men from the Maghreb – sitting in the spring sun and talking near the Trapp market – said they were not allowed to vote in France, but were not particularly worried about the outcome. “Macron will win and life will go on as before,” said one. What about Le Pen’s threat to deport foreigners? “She says that, but it will not happen,” he added.
Rabe fears that this carelessness is deeply inappropriate.
“Unfortunately, I think we will just have to pinch our noses and vote for Macron.
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