French President Emmanuel Macron faces 11 candidates in the presidential elections taking place on the tenth of April, in light of the turbulent European conditions due to the war in Ukraine.
Macron, the candidate for a second term, will make his first visit as a candidate on Monday afternoon to Poissy in the Paris suburb, where he will "talk to the population."
Today, he received local officials and supporters at his campaign headquarters in the capital, 34 days before the first round of elections.
The current president, 44, officially announced his candidacy Thursday in a letter to the French.
Opinion polls expect Macron to lead by a large margin in the results of the first round, and win the second round, scheduled for April 24.
Macron has made great progress in recent days with the intentions of votes in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has strengthened his position, at a time when he is engaged in an active diplomatic campaign, according to analysts.
An opinion poll by Ipsos and Sopra-Syria, whose results were published on Saturday, showed that Macron gained 4 percentage points in a week, registering an approval rating of 30.5 percent, at a time when 90% of respondents expressed concern about the conflict in Ukraine.
Another opinion poll conducted by the BVA institute, and its results were published on Friday, revealed that Macron had advanced by 5 points within 15 days to reach 29% in the first round of the elections, far ahead of his opponents.
The study attributed this development to the "consequences of international events," explaining that, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, "Macron benefits from his tripartite position as head of state, protector of the French and their values, commander of the armed forces and chief of diplomacy."
Macron held talks again on Sunday with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, during which he called on him to "respect international humanitarian law, protect the civilian population and deliver aid," according to the Elysee Palace.
He is also holding talks today with US President Joe Biden before holding multiple diplomatic meetings, leading to a European summit Thursday and Friday in Versailles.
"Ukraine occupies the minds, invades this political scene, and all of this arouses increased interest in the presidential election campaign," Brice Tanturier, managing director of Ipsos, told LCA television.
Under these circumstances, Macron warned that he would not be able to campaign as he "would like".
But today, he affirmed to his supporters, "I do not want to evade the campaign," listing 3 major axes of his plan, which are school, health, and institutions.
The head of his "Republic on the Move" party, Stanislas Guerini, said he would take "all the loopholes" in the international agenda "to meet the French".
visions and attitudes
As for his opponents, the developments of events force them to clarify their positions.
In the face of strong criticism for his support for Moscow, the leader of the radical left Jean-Luc Melenchon called for "stop the invasion of Ukraine" during a rally Sunday in Lyon (southeast).
On the other hand, Melenchon supported France's adoption of a policy of "non-alignment" that does not accept a world order "in which, on the one hand, NATO, and on the other, a Russian bloc" and China.
For his part, environmental candidate Yannick Gado responded sharply, criticizing Melenchon's "tolerance" towards Putin and his "capitulation" to him.
Melenchon leads the intent of votes with the left, which is running in the elections, very divided between several other candidates: Yannick Gado and Anne Hidalgo (Socialist Party), Fabian Rosell (Communist Party), Nathalie Artaud and Philippe Bhutto (the far left).
On the right, the current president, Valerie Pecresse, faces the president of the Ile-de-France region.
As for the far right, it is divided between Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour, who on Sunday won the support of Marion Marechal, the niece of his rival.
Zemmour is also criticized for his defense of Russia, and his statements about accepting Ukrainian refugees in Poland instead of France have drawn criticism, including within his own circles.
The other two candidates among the 12 politicians whose candidacy was approved by the Constitutional Council today are Jean LaSalle and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan.