Just days before France's crucial presidential runoff vote, the center-left leaders of Germany, Spain and Portugal urged French voters Thursday to choose centrist President Emmanuel Macron over far-right nationalist rival Marine Le Pen.
And in another sign of the wide international influence the result of Sunday's French presidential vote will have, imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny also spoke up a day earlier, urging French voters to back Macron and alleging that Le Pen is too closely linked to Russian authorities.
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Just days before France's crucial presidential runoff vote, the center-left leaders of Germany, Spain and Portugal urged French voters Thursday to choose centrist President Emmanuel Macron over far-right nationalist rival Marine Le Pen.
In a column published Thursday in several European newspapers, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa wrote that Sunday’s vote is “critical for France and all and every one of us in Europe.”
“They have echoed his attacks on minorities and diversity and his goal of nationalist uniformity,” they said, according to the article in Spain’s leading newspaper El País. “We must not forget that, no matter how much those politicians are now trying to distance themselves from the Russian aggressor."
On Thursday, he was visiting with voters in the multicultural suburb of Paris of Saint Denis. Le Pen is speaking with voters in Arras ahead of her final rally there.
Le Pen, in turn, sought to appeal to voters struggling with surging prices amid the fallout of Russia’s war in Ukraine, which she criticized. She said bringing down the cost of living would be her priority if elected as France’s first woman president.
People watch centrist candidate and French President Emmanuel Macron, left, and far-right contender Marine Le Pen during a televised debate at the studios hosting the debate in La Plaine-Saint-Denis, outside Paris, Wednesday, April 20, 2022. In the climax of France's presidential campaign, centrist President Emmanuel Macron and far-right contender Marine Le Pen meet Wednesday evening in a one-on-one television debate that could prove decisive before Sunday's runoff vote. (Ludovic Marin, Pool via AP)
Le Pen has faced scrutiny before over a 9 million euro ($9.7 million) loan that her party received in 2014 from the First Czech-Russian Bank and her 2017 visit to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin before the French presidential runoff that year.
Centrist presidential candidate and French President Emmanuel Macron makes a selfie with residents during a campaign stop Thursday, April 21, 2022 in Saint-Denis, outside Paris. French voters head to polls on Sunday in a runoff vote between centrist incumbent Emmanuel Macron and nationalist rival Marine Le Pen. (Ludovic Marin, Pool via AP)
In a column published Thursday in several European newspapers, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa wrote that Sunday’s vote is “critical for France and all and every one of us in Europe.”
“It’s the election between a democratic candidate who believes that France’s strength broadens in a powerful and autonomous European Union and an extreme-right candidate who openly sides with those who attack our freedom and democracy, values based on the French ideas of Enlightenment,” the joint comment said without mentioning Macron or Le Pen by name.
Social Democrat Scholz and Socialists Sánchez and Costa wrote that Europe “is facing a change of era” due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and that “populists and the extreme right” are viewing Putin “as an ideological and political model, replicating his chauvinist ideas.”
Centrist presidential candidate and French President Emmanuel Macron, left, meets residents during a campaign stop Thursday, April 21, 2022 in Saint-Denis, outside Paris. French voters head to polls on Sunday in a runoff vote between centrist incumbent Emmanuel Macron and nationalist rival Marine Le Pen. (AP PhotoFrancois Mori)
“They have echoed his attacks on minorities and diversity and his goal of nationalist uniformity,” they said, according to the article in Spain’s leading newspaper El País. “We must not forget that, no matter how much those politicians are now trying to distance themselves from the Russian aggressor."
The column ended by appealing to unity to “maintain prosperity and well-being” in Europe: “That’s why we need France to be on our side,” the leaders wrote.
Macron is not taking any chances by being complacent, even with polling data for his camp in recent days that show a stabilized lead against his rival.
Centrist presidential candidate and French President Emmanuel Macron gestures as he arrives for a campaign stop Thursday, April 21, 2022 in Saint-Denis, outside Paris. French voters head to polls on Sunday in a runoff vote between centrist incumbent Emmanuel Macron and nationalist rival Marine Le Pen. (AP PhotoFrancois Mori)
On Thursday, he was visiting with voters in the multicultural suburb of Paris of Saint Denis. Le Pen is speaking with voters in Arras ahead of her final rally there.
The two rivals clashed bitterly in Wednesday’s televised debate.
Macron argued that the loan Le Pen’s party received in 2014 from a Czech-Russian bank made her unsuitable to deal with Moscow amid its invasion of Ukraine. He also said her plans to ban Muslim women in France from wearing headscarves in public would trigger “civil war” in the country that has the largest Muslim population in Western Europe.
Centrist presidential candidate and French President Emmanuel Macron joins his hands as he arrives for a campaign stop Thursday, April 21, 2022 in Saint-Denis, outside Paris. French voters head to polls on Sunday in a runoff vote between centrist incumbent Emmanuel Macron and nationalist rival Marine Le Pen. (AP PhotoFrancois Mori)
Le Pen, in turn, sought to appeal to voters struggling with surging prices amid the fallout of Russia’s war in Ukraine, which she criticized. She said bringing down the cost of living would be her priority if elected as France’s first woman president.
Follow all AP stories on France's 2022 presidential election at https://apnews.com/hub/french-election-2022
Centrist presidential candidate and French President Emmanuel Macron meets residents during a campaign stop Thursday, April 21, 2022 in Saint-Denis, outside Paris. French voters head to polls on Sunday in a runoff vote between centrist incumbent Emmanuel Macron and nationalist rival Marine Le Pen. (AP PhotoFrancois Mori)
People watch centrist candidate and French President Emmanuel Macron, left, and far-right contender Marine Le Pen during a televised debate at the studios hosting the debate in La Plaine-Saint-Denis, outside Paris, Wednesday, April 20, 2022. In the climax of France's presidential campaign, centrist President Emmanuel Macron and far-right contender Marine Le Pen meet Wednesday evening in a one-on-one television debate that could prove decisive before Sunday's runoff vote. (Ludovic Marin, Pool via AP)
President Emmanuel Macron is in the pole position to win reelection Sunday in France's presidential runoff, yet his lead over far-right rival Marine Le Pen depends on one major uncertainty: voters who decide to stay home.
A victory in Sunday's runoff vote would make Macron the first French president in 20 years to win a second term.
All opinion polls in recent days converge toward a victory for the 44-year-old pro-European centrist — yet the margin over his nationalist rival appears uncertain, varying from 6 to 15 percentage points, depending on the poll.
FILE - Centrist candidate and French President Emmanuel Macron shakes hands to residents after a campaign rally Friday, April 22, 2022 in Figeac, southwestern France. French President Emmanuel Macron is in pole position to win reelection Sunday, April 24, 2022 in France's presidential runoff. Yet his lead over far-right rival Marine Le Pen depends on one major uncertainty: voters who decide to stay home. A victory in Sunday’s runoff vote would make Macron the first French president in 20 years to win a second term. (AP PhotoChristophe Ena, File)
Polls also forecast a possibly record-high number of people who either vote blank or stay at home and don't vote at all in this second and final round.
The April 10 first-round vote eliminated 10 other presidential candidates. Who becomes France's next leader will largely depend on what people who backed those losing candidates do on Sunday.
The question is a hard one, especially for leftist voters who dislike Macron but don’t want to see Le Pen in power either. A second term for Macron relies in part on their mobilization, prompting the French leader to issue multiple appeals to leftist voters in recent days.
FILE - French far-right leader Marine Le Pen poses for a selfie with supporters during a campaign rally in Perpignan, southern France, Thursday, April 7, 2022. French President Emmanuel Macron is in pole position to win reelection Sunday, April 24, 2022 in France's presidential runoff. Yet his lead over far-right rival Marine Le Pen depends on one major uncertainty: voters who decide to stay home. A victory in Sunday’s runoff vote would make Macron the first French president in 20 years to win a second term. (AP PhotoJoan Mateu Parra, File)
"Think about what British citizens were saying a few hours before Brexit or (people) in the United States before Trump's election happened: ‘I’m not going, what’s the point?’ I can tell you that they regretted it the next day,” Macron warned this week on France 5 television.
“So if you want to avoid the unthinkable ... choose for yourself,” he urged hesitant French voters.
The two rivals both appeared combative in the final days before Sunday's election, including clashing Wednesday in a one-on-one televised debate.
FILE - Centrist presidential candidate and French President Emmanuel Macron holds hands to residents during a campaign stop Thursday, April 21, 2022 in Saint-Denis, outside Paris. French President Emmanuel Macron is in pole position to win reelection Sunday, April 24, 2022 in France's presidential runoff. Yet his lead over far-right rival Marine Le Pen depends on one major uncertainty: voters who decide to stay home. A victory in Sunday’s runoff vote would make Macron the first French president in 20 years to win a second term. (Ludovic Marin, Pool via AP, File)
Macron argued that the loan Le Pen’s party received in 2014 from a Czech-Russian bank made her unsuitable to deal with Moscow amid its invasion of Ukraine. He also said her plans to ban Muslim women in France from wearing headscarves in public would trigger “civil war” in the country that has the largest Muslim population in Western Europe.
“When someone explains to you that Islam equals Islamism equals terrorism equals a problem, that is clearly called the far-right,” Macron declared Friday on France Inter radio.
In his victory speech in 2017, Macron had promised to “do everything” during his five-year term so that the French “have no longer any reason to vote for the extremes.”
FILE - Centrist presidential candidate and French President Emmanuel Macron wears boxing gloves as he campaigns in the Auguste Delaune stadium Thursday, April 21, 2022 in Saint-Denis, outside Paris. French President Emmanuel Macron is in pole position to win reelection Sunday, April 24, 2022 in France's presidential runoff. Yet his lead over far-right rival Marine Le Pen depends on one major uncertainty: voters who decide to stay home. A victory in Sunday’s runoff vote would make Macron the first French president in 20 years to win a second term. (AP PhotoFrancois Mori, Pool, File)
Five years later, that challenge has not been met. Le Pen has consolidated her place on France's political scene, the result of a years-long effort to rebrand herself as less extreme.
Le Pen's campaign this time has sought to appeal to voters struggling with surging food and energy prices amid the fallout of Russia’s war in Ukraine. The 53-year-old candidate said bringing down the cost of living would be a top priority if she was elected as France’s first woman president.
She criticized Macron's “calamitous” presidency in her last rally in the northern town of Arras.
FILE - Emma Mino holds an electoral poster of French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, Tuesday, March 29, 2022 in Le Temple-De-Bretagne, western France. French President Emmanuel Macron is in pole position to win reelection Sunday, April 24, 2022 in France's presidential runoff. Yet his lead over far-right rival Marine Le Pen depends on one major uncertainty: voters who decide to stay home. A victory in Sunday’s runoff vote would make Macron the first French president in 20 years to win a second term. (AP PhotoJeremias Gonzalez, File)
“I'm not even mentioning immigration or security for which, I believe, every French person can only note the failure of the Macron’s policies ... his economic record is also catastrophic,” she declared.
Political analyst Marc Lazar, head of the History Center at Sciences Po, told the AP he thinks that Macron is going to win again. Le Pen "has this lack of credibility," he said.
But if Macron is re-elected, "there is a big problem," he added. “A great number of the people who are going to vote for Macron, they are not voting for this program, but because they reject Marine Le Pen.”
He said that means Macron will face a “big level of mistrust” in the country.
Macron has vowed to change the French economy to make it more independent while protecting social benefits at the same time. He said he will also keep pushing for a more powerful Europe.
His first term was rocked by the yellow vest protests against social injustice, the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. It notably forced Macron to delay a key pension reform, which he said he would relaunch soon after reelection, to gradually raise France's minimum retirement age from 62 to 65. He says that's the only way to keep benefits flowing to retirees.
The French presidential election is also being closely watched abroad.
In an opinion piece Thursday in several European newspapers, the center-left leaders of Germany, Spain and Portugal urged French voters to choose him over his nationalist rival. They raised a warning about “populists and the extreme right” who hold Putin “as an ideological and political model, replicating his chauvinist ideas.”
A Le Pen victory would be a “traumatic moment, not only for France, but for European Union and for international relationships, especially with the USA," Lazar said, noting that Le Pen "wants a distant relationship between France and the USA.”
In any case, Sunday's winner will soon face another obstacle to be able to govern France: A legislative election in June will decide who controls a majority of seats in France's National Assembly.
Already, the battles promise to be hard-fought.
AP Journalists Catherine Gaschka and Jeffrey Schaeffer contributed to that story.
Follow AP’s coverage of the French election at https://apnews.com/hub/french-election-2022
