French election: Macron’s Brexit swipe in last-ditch bid to beat Le Pen | World | News


In what appeared to have been a hard-to-call race to be the next president of France, Mr Macron crept ahead in the polls following his televised debate with Ms Le Pen earlier this week. But the incumbent President has warned voters his current lead in the polls is no guarantee that victory will be his, in an attempt to ensure the election’s turnout is strong in his favour.

Mr Macron decided to evoke his image as the “continuity candidate” in his last message to the French people ahead of voting tomorrow, on April 24.

This also saw him issue another swipe at Brexit.

He said: “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.”

The President told BFM TV: “The next day they woke up with a hangover.”

This is not the first time Mr Macron has attempted to discredit his opponent in order to improve his own appeal to voters.

He last week branded Ms Le Pen “far right”, insisting she had only adopted softer political lines on the surface to gain more support.

Mr Macron told France Channel 5 some of her views have actually become “maybe even more radical on some subjects, such as identity, asylum, Europe”.

READ MORE: ‘Fiercely patriotic’ Le Pen NO friend of Brexit

Polling suggests around one-third of the almost eight million French voters who backed left-wing candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the first round will abstain in Sunday’s voting.

Strategists at Citi, quoted in CNN, said: “Uncertainty stems from the risk of low voter turnout, as leftist voters refuse to give their vote to Macron, even at the risk of handing over to Le Pen.

“Voter turnout is a factor that pollsters find particularly hard to forecast accurately.”

It is possible the prospect of a President Le Pen has been made less shocking among disillusioned left-wing voters by her pledge to appoint left-wing politicians to her government, if she gains power.

The chances of such a victory appeared, however, to shrink after this week’s televised debate, in which Ms Le Pen is understood to have performed better than in 2017 but was still cut down by Mr Macron.

Eurasia Group’s Europe Director Mujtaba Rahman said in a post on Twitter following the debate: “It’s always hazardous to call an election three days out but this one looks like it’s all over but for the voting ends.”

Whoever wins, France’s relationship with Britain will, however, likely remain the same, according to former Brexit Party MEP Ben Habib.

The businessman told Express.co.uk: “Le Pen may prove to be less vocal than Macron but it would be a mistake to think she would genuinely be kinder to the UK. She would, rightly, put France first.”



Source link