With the run-off in the French presidential elections approaching, right-wing candidate Marine Le Pen has changed her position on the issue of the headscarf and its ban in public places, and Le Pen's spokesman, Sebastien Schön, said that if Le Pen is elected, "She will instruct Parliament to determine the details of this issue," adding that Parliament "" He is the one who will look into the issue of banning the veil, and offer practical solutions so that, for example, a woman in her seventies who has been wearing the veil for years is not affected by this measure."
Le Pen's change of position came one week before the second round of the elections, where she faces outgoing President Emmanuel Macron on April 24.
Le Pen had said last Saturday that the headscarf is a "complex problem", but in return confirmed that it is "unlimited in thinking" and that this controversial draft ban will be put up for discussion in the National Assembly.
The issue of the veil has taken a great deal of controversy between her and Macron, who seeks to win the votes of Muslims, who number about 5 million people, and make up 9% of the population.
In the first round of the elections, 69% of Muslim voters chose left-wing candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, who came third in the first round, according to a poll conducted by the IFOP Center.
It is noteworthy that Macron, who understands the importance of Muslim votes and seeks to win them in the current elections, his government approved a controversial law last year to combat what he called "Islamic isolationism" in France, and his government closed many mosques and schools.
Le Pen's change of position on the headscarf coincided with the start of the French public prosecutor's investigation into accusations of abusing her and members of her party for using hundreds of thousands of euros in European Union funds during their tenure in the European Parliament.
French prosecutors announced that they had received a report last month from the European Anti-fraud Office, accusing Marine Le Pen and her associates of embezzling about 600,000 euros of European public funds from 2004 to 2017, when she was a member of the European Parliament.
This was denied by Le Pen's lawyer, noting that his client had not committed any legal violations.
It is expected that a television debate will bring together the two candidates Macron and Le Pen next Wednesday, as this debate is the climax of the electoral campaigns for both contenders, and may represent a turning point in the second round of the elections.
Opinion polls show Macron winning in Sunday's poll with a percentage ranging between 53% and 55.5%, compared to 44.5% and 47% for Le Pen, but the difference is slight and falls within the margin of error, and therefore Macron's success is not definitive and may be frustrated by a strong mobilization of voters opposing him.
Le Pen, who was defeated in 2017 by Macron and was not ready for the debate that brought them together at that time, seeks to make progress over Macron during the debate and strengthen her image, as the debate is "an important moment because many French people watch it," she says, while Macron believes that the debate will be "A moment to clarify," noting that he had "a project that deserves to be known."