The day after a trip to Pau where he defended his re-election project, Mr. Macron found the clothes of head of state, commemorating in relative discretion the 60th anniversary of the Evian Accords of March 19, 1962.

During a ceremony at the Elysée Palace, he said he "assumed" the memorial gestures since the start of his five-year term, which were sometimes controversial, saying he was convinced that "a day will come when Algeria will take this path".

But, he noted, "there will inevitably be moments of nervousness" in this difficult "reconciliation of memories" on the Algerian war, the trauma of which is still felt.

Several right-wing and far-right candidates criticized the anniversary, arguing that the massacres continued until Algerian independence on July 5, 1962.

"There are 150,000 harkis who were killed after this date. There are 10,000 pied-noirs who were killed after this date. So, no, I don't want to commemorate this date as the end of the war" , said Marine Le Pen (RN), Saturday in Courtenay (Loiret).

Marine Le Pen, RN presidential candidate, visiting Courtenay, March 19, 2022 in Loiret GUILLAUME SOUVANT AFP

Her right-wing rival Valérie Pécresse for her part pledged on Friday to find, if she is elected, "another date" than March 19.

"Trick" and "theft"

In this particular campaign in the middle of the war in Ukraine, all the counters seem to be green for Emmanuel Macron, who on Saturday received the support of the left-wing collective of the Republican Spring.

He alternates his role as head of state and candidate, and imposes his tempo and agenda on a fragmented opposition, refusing to do battle directly with his adversaries.

They accuse him in return of dodging direct confrontation.

Emmanuel Macron is riding the wave of polls which give him more or less 30% of the voting intentions in the first round on April 10, far ahead of Marine Le Pen who is in a range of 16 to 18%.

And the polls give Mr Macron the winner in the second round in all scenarios, including a replay of the 2017 election.

Emmanuel Macron AFP

Opposite, his opponents say they are still convinced that nothing is yet decided, while the question of the legitimacy of a president who would be re-elected without real debate, and against a backdrop of fears of massive abstention, emerges.

The far left candidate Philippe Poutou estimated on France 2 on Saturday that "contrary to what Emmanuel Macron wants to believe, the election is not played at all. Mr. Macron refuses a debate, we are in the process of to rig the presidential election".

On the right, candidate LR, who is undergoing a slow erosion in the polls (around 11%), focuses her attacks on Emmanuel Macron, denouncing as in Vannes (Morbihan) on Saturday an "illusionist" president-candidate who has made his balance sheet disappear and don't want to talk about it."

Valérie Pécresse, LR presidential candidate, on March 18, 2022 in Toulouse Lionel BONAVENTURE AFP

His rival Eric Zemmour is for his part trying to remobilize his troops, accusing Mr. Macron and Mrs. Le Pen of "trying" to "steal the election".

"They want to reinstate the Le Pen-Macron match that you no longer wanted, this final without any suspense, this wrestling show where everything is rigged, between the eternal teenager and the eternal loser", he launched during of a meeting in Metz on Friday evening.

The ex-controversialist caps between 11 and 13% of voting intentions and has been going through a delicate sequence since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.

Eric Zemmour, Reconquest candidate!

in the presidential election, March 18, 2022 in Metz Jean-Christophe VERHAEGEN AFP

On the left, the battle is just as raging between the leader of LFI Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the best placed in the polls, and his environmentalist rivals Yannick Jadot and to a lesser extent the socialist Anne Hidalgo and the communist Fabien Roussel.

The latter have multiplied the attacks targeting the candidate of the radical left on his positions in the conflict in Ukraine, Yannick Jadot castigating for example Friday evening on LCI his “non-alignment” and his “capitulation” in front of Vladimir Putin.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, LFI presidential candidate, March 15, 2022 in Montrouge, near Paris Alain JOCARD AFP / Archives

Mr. Mélenchon is trying to amplify his current dynamic and plans to bring together tens of thousands of people in a march on Sunday in Paris, "For the Sixth Republic".

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