This is the home stretch in this extraordinary campaign hit hard by the Covid crisis and the war in Ukraine.

With a major challenge for the 12 contenders for the Elysée: to mobilize their supporters, to seek out the undecided and those tempted by a potentially high abstention.

The last days of the campaign are electrified by a narrowing gap in the polls between Emmanuel Macron, candidate of "at the same time" wanting to transcend the right / left divides.

And its far-right rival, in the midst of a survey dynamic, which is surfing on galloping inflation and putting the defense of purchasing power at the heart of its campaign.

Presidential: the municipalities with more than 20% abstention AFP

During a giant meeting on Saturday with more social overtones, Emmanuel Macron called for "general mobilization" against "extremism" and "great stunting".

Faced with the 2017 remake announced by opinion polls, the best-placed left-wing candidate (around 15%) Jean-Luc Mélenchon hopes to win a ticket in the final.

To make this hoped-for "remontada" a reality, he beats the recall on the emblematic Place du Capitole in Toulouse, in a historically left-wing region but under the windows of the LR mayor and "Macron-compatible" Jean-Luc Moudenc.

The Pink City with a powerful tradition of protest voting on the left was one of the strongholds of the "yellow vests" movement in 2018/19.

A woman walks past campaign posters of the deputy and presidential candidate of the French left-wing party La France Insoumise (LFI), Jean-Luc Mélenchon, in Marseille on March 31, 2022 Nicolas TUCAT AFP

"Things are crystallizing"

The entourage of Jean-Luc Mélenchon does not advance a figure but hopes to "fill the place" for the penultimate meeting of the candidate.

"In a general campaign which has little media influence, and which mobilizes fewer people than in 2012 and 2017, ours mobilizes well", welcomed campaign director Manuel Bompard.

"In the home stretch, things crystallize, which tends to amplify the dynamics that already exist. But for Macron, his dynamic is downward. As for Marine Le Pen, she is still overestimated in the polls," he said. he assures.

The French president and candidate for re-election of the liberal party La République en Marche (LREM) Emmanuel Macron greets his supporters during his first campaign rally at the Arena Paris La Défense, in Nanterre on April 2, 2022 Thomas COEX AFP

After a meeting with Parisian restaurateurs, the rebellious leader, a third-time presidential candidate, showed himself to be combative on Saturday: "Le Pen presents the same fragility as Mr. Macron, their profound indifference to the social abuse".

In 2017, he took advantage of the home stretch to create momentum and arrived in 4th position (19.58%) just behind the right-wing candidate François Fillon (20.01%).

But the rebellious, who pleads for a "useful vote", is far from unanimous within a divided and weakened left, with the ecologist Yannick Jadot given around 6%, the communist Fabien Roussel (around 4%) and especially the socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo given at a historically low level (around 2%).

Some are worried about the preponderant role he could play after the presidential election in the event of a high score for a recomposition of the left.

Tenors of the right

On the right too, some are already thinking about the future.

But the Republican candidate, neck and neck with former far-right polemicist Eric Zemmour around 10% of the voting intentions, will try to mobilize an electorate very much courted by her opponents, from the far right to the candidate Macron.

The tenors of the right will try to give the image of a united party despite the defections to En Marche and the far right, before leaving Valérie Pécresse to develop "the main axes and the great values" of her campaign: the regal with a great firmness on security, and purchasing power with "10% increase in wages".

The presidential candidate of the French far-right Reconquete! party, Eric Zemmour, leaves a football pitch during a campaign visit to Aix-en-Provence on April 2, 2022 bERTRAND GUAY AFP

Meetings also for Anne Hidalgo and Nathalie Arthaud (LO) in Paris.

Trip to Nanterre for Yannick Jadot, and participation in a demonstration against the extreme right in Paris for Philippe Poutou (NPA) after his meeting on Saturday.

© 2022 AFP