In Marseille, however, it was Jean-Luc Mélenchon who came out on top on Sunday (31%), nearly 9 points ahead of the outgoing president.

It is therefore for Emmanuel Macron to reconnect with a city for which he has always shown his attachment, first by displaying a fervent supporter of OM.

Then, to repair an affront: the capital of Bouches-du-Rhône was to host a first major campaign launch meeting in early March, canceled in extremis after the outbreak of the invasion of Ukraine.

From 3:00 p.m. in the Pharo garden, a park overlooking the Old Port, the candidate still the favorite in the polls intends to give an image of a popular gathering on Saturday: several thousand people are expected in a deliberately relaxed atmosphere, without chairs but under a promised summer sun.

Among the Macronist strategists, we were particularly pleased with this format tested on Tuesday in Strasbourg - in front of a much more modest crowd - while recognizing that "it is undeniably a risk-taking, since we are never at safe from incident, including physically".

It was also already in this bucolic park that the President of the Republic spoke at the beginning of September to present his Marseille plan in a big way, generally well received locally.

First, the boss of Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur Renaud Muselier, ex-LR, with whom the presidential majority had successfully allied during the regional last spring.

The former right arm of Jean-Claude Gaudin has become a strong ally of the outgoing president, who can also count on the support of Martine Vassal, the president of the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolis, also ex-LR.

The Benoît Payan hypothesis

But it is the presence - or not - of the mayor of Marseille Benoît Payan who will be scrutinized on Saturday afternoon and who must complete the big "gathering".

The socialist has always shown warm, even friendly, relations with Emmanuel Macron and had not supported Anne Hidalgo in the first round.

The fight against the far right could allow him to assume unreserved support for the head of state without jeopardizing his municipal majority which goes from LFI to EELV, hope several macronie pundits.

Former French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe (L) looks at President-candidate for re-election Emmanuel Macron during a visit to the port of Le Havre, north-west, April 14, 2022 Ludovic MARIN AFP

The operation would also encourage Jean-Luc Mélenchon's voters to slip in a Macron ballot on April 24 and not to choose a simple blank vote or abstention, mechanically favorable to Marine Le Pen.

Will Emmanuel Macron make new announcements at the Pharo?

While working on an "enrichment" of his project, the outgoing president is particularly expected on ecology, one of the cornerstones of the Mélenchon vote which particularly appealed to young people last Sunday.

Eight days before the second round, the displacement of the candidate-president is intended to be the continuation of a tour of France started in the North on Monday, passing through Alsace and Le Havre, lands which are sometimes electorally complicated for him.

On the other hand, it is in this south which is largely acquired for her that Marine Le Pen spent part of the week, first during a large meeting in Avignon, then in Pertuis (Vaucluse), the weather a visit to a market.

Saturday morning, the RN candidate made a trip to Eure-et-Loir.

During the day, around thirty demonstrations are planned all over France to say "no to the far right", at the call of organizations and unions such as SOS Racisme, the CGT or the Syndicat de la magistrature.

© 2022 AFP