The Elysee candidates squeeze the end of the French campaign to avoid a record abstention

• France Marine Le Pen capitalizes on the war in the final stretch of the campaign and close to Macron

France is a few hours away from entering its period of

after an apathetic, unusual campaign in which there are two clear favorites: undecided and abstentionists.

The candidates to preside over the Elysee have almost intervened more in the last two days than in the entire electoral period in an attempt to

, especially the latter, which could upset the forecasts.

In elections with the widest political offer in history, with the left divided, the extreme right growing and with the traditional parties (Republicans and Socialists) in deep crisis, everything points to the two most voted this Sunday, those who go to the second round, it will be

.

Perhaps because the French feel trapped in this

of struggle between the two candidates, perhaps because

(pandemic, war...), the electorate is as if anesthetized and proof of this is the level of expected abstention of 30%, a record for a presidential election.

"This has been a particular campaign in which there has been a characteristic that is the great absence of Macron. There is also

, a reaction to representative democracy, a rejection of the system. There is a democratic disease in France," explains political scientist Luc Rouban.

useful vote

In this context, the candidates for the Elysée have squeezed today

and multiplied their interventions: those who believe they are favorites, to capture votes;

those that are known to have already been eliminated, so that the useful vote policy is not applied in this first phase.

In 2017 abstention was 22%.

The highest to date was in 2002 (with 28%), when Jean Marie Le Pen eliminated the Socialist Lionel Jospin from the first round.

There is also a lot of indecision: 22% of the French will decide the vote between today and tomorrow.

In recent weeks, the bodies responsible for conducting the polls have only taken into account in their interviews those voters who said they were convinced of going to vote on Sunday.

"

", a person in charge of one of these study centers confessed to the newspaper Le Figaro.

Marine Le Pen

, second favorite in the polls, called for the mobilization of voters.

Macron, the great absentee from the campaign until a few days ago but who starts as the favorite, also admitted in an interview that nothing is guaranteed in these strange elections.

"

I have the spirit of conquest, not that of defeat," he said on the radio, RTL.

Some candidates anticipated positions for the second round.

Those who appear in the polls in third and fourth position, the leftist

and the conservative

, assure that they are not going to give their voters a vote.

Éric Zemmour, the far-right candidate who started strong and deflated throughout the campaign until he finished fifth, said the polls are wrong.

According to an Ifop poll published on Thursday, Macron would have 26.5% support, Marine Le Pen 24%.

In third position would be Jean Luc Mélenchon (17.5%), followed by Pécresse (9%), Zemmour (8.9%) and the environmentalist Yannick Jadot (4.5%).

The socialist Anne Hidalgo would obtain barely 2%, thus illustrating the historic blow of the socialist party.

From tomorrow it is forbidden to publish polls or do electoral promotion, at the risk of a fine of 75,000 euros.

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