An Ipsos poll for Le Parisien and Franceinfo places Mr. Mélenchon in fourth position with 12% of voting intentions, certainly far behind the outgoing president (30.5%), but only four points behind RN Marine Le Pen (16% ).

He is on the heels of far-right polemicist Eric Zemmour (13.5%) and ahead of LR Valérie Pécresse (11%).

With such a low entry ticket for the second round, the fight remains open 28 days from the first round.

And the LFI candidate, who is gradually gaining ground in opinion polls, could give hope to a fragmented left, unable to unite and given a long time beaten in advance.

A campaign poster of candidate Emmanuel Macron, March 12, 2022 in Marseille, France CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU AFP

He is at this stage the best-placed left-wing candidate, as confirmed by the Ipsos poll where he is well ahead of the ecologist Yannick Jadot (6.5%), the communist Fabien Roussel (3%) or the socialist Anne Hidalgo ( 2.5%).

Convinced of being "on the doorstep of the second round", Mr. Mélenchon took the opportunity to call for a useful vote in an interview with the JDD: "I say to every conscience on the left: everyone is personally responsible for the result “, he assured.

According to him, a second round Mélenchon-Macron, "it changes everything" and "would purify the atmosphere".

"Better to discuss whether retirement is at 65 or 60, rather than the intellectual venom that the far right spreads," he insisted.

At a time when purchasing power is emerging as the main concern of the French with the surge in gasoline prices caused by the war in Ukraine, the Insoumis candidate is trying to avoid a new duel between Mr. Macron and Mrs. Le Pen as in 2017.

He was then ranked fourth with 19.6% of the vote within two points of the RN candidate.

After having already started from much lower in the polls.

On Franceinfo, the deputy managing director of Ipsos Brice Teinturier judges "absolutely indisputable" that Mr. Mélenchon has taken "the leadership in the space of the left".

And this despite competition from the Communist Party which, unlike 2012 and 2017, this time presents its own candidate with Fabien Roussel, a choice that Mr. Mélenchon continues to regret at length of interviews.

Pécresse relies on its "credibility"

Subject to strong criticism for his pro-Russian positions since the start of the war in Ukraine, Mr. Mélenchon does not seem to have been penalized in the polls, despite the frontal attacks of Yannick Jadot and Anne Hidalgo on this subject.

For Mr. Mélenchon, "the whole question will be whether he manages to continue to capitalize on this dynamic to be able to possibly secure a place in the second round", underlines Mathieu Gallard research director at Ipsos France on Franceinfo.

"The challenge of second place will be greatly affected by the dynamics of useful voting", explains Bernard Sananès, president of the Elabe institute, to AFP.

"Is Mr. Mélenchon going to carry it on the left and will Mrs. Le Pen to the right of the right succeed in capturing a useful vote?"

The mayor of Paris and socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo, March 12, 2022 in Paris Alain JOCARD AFP

On the right and on the far right, the useful vote is indeed also a crucial issue as the first round approaches.

Ms. Le Pen claims it to attract voters who left her to join the ranks of Eric Zemmour.

As for Ms. Pécresse, she continues to present herself as the only candidate capable of standing up to Emmanuel Macron in the second round, despite a fall in the polls which relegates her most often to fifth place now.

"The French are focused on this war in Ukraine and when there is a war, there is a legitimist reflex" but "we must not be afraid to change captains", she insisted on Sunday, assuring that it will be "the surprise of the second round" because, when the time comes, "the French will choose credibility".

© 2022 AFP