The war in Ukraine and the relationship with Russia and its President Vladimir Putin were the focus of an indirect confrontation between the centrist candidate for the French presidential elections, Emmanuel Macron, and the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, who are likely to cross the second round of the elections.
When Macron and Le Pen successively appeared on the "Ten Minutes to Persuasion" program on French Channel One (TF1), Macron rejected his accusation of keeping an open channel of dialogue with Russian President Putin despite the continuing war on Ukraine, and defended his diplomatic approach towards the Russian war on Ukraine. It was expressing France's policy of avoiding war and building peace.
"I am absolutely in favor of speaking constantly, on behalf of France, with the President of Russia to avoid war and build a new structure for peace in Europe. I have done so since the beginning of my term. Early in the summer of 2017, I said that Mr. Putin interfered in the presidential campaign and attacked me, so I was not naive," Macron said. I have never been naive, unlike others, and I have never been complicit, unlike others.
As for the candidate, Le Pen, who is accused of building close relations with the Putin regime, she criticized what she considered Macron's harsh stances towards the Russian president, and said that she wants "Russia to reunite with Europe."
Le Pen and the Bucha events
Marine Le Pen said that the pictures coming from the city of Bucha, near the Ukrainian capital, "are sad, but Russia will not disappear or move away from the European continent, and it is worrying that it will certainly go to the bosom of China, and is likely to pose a threat to Europe, which is the superpower."
After the Russian war on Ukraine seemed to confuse the agendas of the French presidential candidates at the beginning of their campaigns, the war quickly turned into part of the electoral debate, between warning of its economic repercussions and apprehension about its military dimensions, and the threat it poses to Europe, and opinion polls concluded that this war And its repercussions are the second issue that preoccupies French voters, and may influence their decision.
Polls still give centrist Macron and far-right candidate Le Pen the first (26.5%) and second (22.8%) positions in the first round, and third comes Jean-Luc Melenchon from the "France Proud" party (16.3%), a far-left party, while Far-right candidate Eric Zemmour comes fourth (9.7%).
Two-round poll
The French presidential vote will take place in two rounds, on April 10 and 24, and Macron defeated Le Pen in the last presidential elections held in France, in 2017.
The 12 candidates for the presidential elections in France today are intensifying their movements on the penultimate day of the campaign, with the approach of a poll that sees a daily decrease in the difference between the two most likely candidates to win, the outgoing President Macron and the far-right candidate Le Pen.
Fears overshadowed the presidential election with a high abstention rate that might approach or exceed the record rate recorded in the 2002 presidencies (28.4%), as candidates are trying to woo hesitant voters, who constitute a third of the electorate.