Can Marine Le Pen move into the Elysée Palace in three weeks?

Emmanuel Macron answered the question on Saturday with a comparison.

"Look at Brexit," he called out to around 30,000 supporters at his only major rally in a stadium in the Paris office district of La Défense.

A similar political earthquake could also happen to France.

"Don't believe the polls and the commentators (. . .) who say it's impossible, inconceivable," he said.

Michael Wiegel

Political correspondent based in Paris.

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A week before the first ballot on April 10, the message was clear.

Macron wants to mobilize the French to support him.

They should fear Le Pen's victory so that they don't save themselves the trip to the polling station.

The most important target group for the appeal are centre-left voters who have become politically homeless with the demise of the former governing party, the Parti Socialiste (PS).

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who six months ago could still have hoped for a strengthening of social democracy along the lines of the SPD, embodies the downfall with a potential vote of two percent.

Macron knows his most dangerous opponent is low turnout.

That's why he dramatized the danger posed by right-wing populists.

"It's about the fight between progress and isolation, the fight between patriotism and Europe against the nationalists," he said.

“I want a general mobilization!” he demanded.

He didn't want to believe Cassandra's calls, nor believe in victory.

The worst thing is the habituation effect.

"Alternative truths" have been trivialized, it has been accepted that anti-Semitic and racist authors appear on TV talk shows.

That was an allusion to the presidential candidate Eric Zemmour, who has been convicted several times for racist lapses.

A rally based on the American model

Macron also criticized the conspiracy theorists who have been promoting their "disgusting theories" and "outrageous untruths" during the pandemic.

Your adventurous theses would not be questioned.

"You can exit the euro in the morning and return to the EU in the evening, nobody points out the inconsistency," Macron said.

Without mentioning her name, he was referring to Marine Le Pen.

He also had the right-wing populist in his sights when he said: "Your program would ruin small savers, collapse purchasing power and bankrupt the pension system."

The rally was organized along the lines of American campaign appearances.

Macron streaked into the hexagonal ring like a star as pyro fountains erupted.

Again and again the supporters joined in chants.

The most popular was "And one, and two, and five more years for Macron".

The perfectly staged campaign show is unlikely to replace the grassroots election campaign that the French are used to from previous elections.

Macron has pointed to the Ukraine war to justify his minimal election campaign.

The fear of war in France is now concentrated primarily on purchasing power.

Le Pen had already positioned herself as an advocate for low earners for weeks.

In La Défense, Macron repeated his announcements that he would raise the retirement age to 65 and oblige recipients of basic social benefits to take further training hours.

But he also pointed out that his government had spent more than 20 billion euros on capping gas and electricity prices.

He promised a tax and duty-free purchasing power bonus of up to 6,000 euros if he were re-elected on April 24th.

The gap between Macron and Le Pen, which was more than 30 percentage points five years ago, has narrowed noticeably.

According to an IPSOS poll on Sunday, Macron would win with 53 percent against Le Pen (47 percent).