Category Archives: Emmanuel Macron

France election: calls begin for voters to block far-right Le Pen

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As in 2017 and 2002, debate over whether leftwing voters should back centrist, stay home or not vote at all

France now faces a frantic electoral fortnight after Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen made it to the second round of the presidential election, with the two remaining candidates attempting to convince the country’s voters – many of whom do not support them – that they deserve their vote in a fortnight.

For many of France’s almost 48 million voters, this will be a difficult time, particularly for those on the left of the political spectrum. Many will be asking themselves whether to select what they consider the least bad option between the centrist Emmanuel Macron or far-right Marine Le Pen, or stay at home and not vote at all.

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How Le Pen tried to soften image to reach French election runoff

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Centrist Macron may find it hard to make criticism of far-right opponent’s racist, anti-Muslim platform stick in next round

When the far-right Marine Le Pen posed for a selfie with a smiling teenager in a Muslim headscarf in Dunkirk on the northern coast, it was a turning point in the presidential campaign.

Le Pen wants to ban the Muslim headscarf from all public places, including the streets, calling it a “uniform of totalitarian ideology”. So after posing happily with a girl in hijab, she was attacked for going soft by her far-right rival, the TV pundit Éric Zemmour. “Let me teach you about humanity,” Le Pen shot back at one of Zemmour’s lieutenants in a TV debate that went viral. “What would you have done? Pulled her veil off and mistreated her?”

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Macron on 28% to Le Pen’s 23% in projected first round French election results

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Centrist leader predicted to win first round of presidential race against far-right candidate

France faces a brutal two-week campaign over the country’s future, as the centrist incumbent, Emmanuel Macron, faces the far-right Marine Le Pen for the presidency, positioning himself as a pro-European “progressive” against what he calls her anti-Muslim, nationalist programme and “complacency” about Vladimir Putin.

Macron topped Sunday’s first round of the French presidential election with 28.5% of the vote, ahead of Le Pen’s 23.6%, according to initial projected results.

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French election 2022: Projected result and latest vote tallies

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Emmanuel Macron is asking French voters for another term as president. The far right’s Marine Le Pen, and 10 others, are challenging him. Find out the latest results department by department

Live blog: latest developments and reaction

The French president is elected by a direct vote. There is no electoral college, and no involvement of parliament. A candidate who wins more than 50% of the popular vote is elected. If, as seems likely, no candidate wins that majority in the first round, the top two candidates go through to a run-off election two weeks later, on April 24.

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French presidential election could see historically low turnout, pollsters say

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80% of those polled felt the campaign was ‘poor quality’, with many complaining of a lack of ideas or vision

A majority of French people feel the 2022 presidential election campaign has been poor quality and never really got off the ground, which could lead to protest votes and a historically low turnout in Sunday’s first round, pollsters and analysts have said.

An Ifop poll this month found 80% of French people felt the campaign was “poor quality”. Voters have complained of a lack of new political ideas or vision, and few solutions to their problems, after two years of the Covid pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and a cost-of-living crisis.

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France elections: Macron’s lead over Le Pen narrowing as vote nears

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Centrist incumbent and far-right rival go into last day of campaigning after a week of sparring in media

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, and his far-right challenger Marine Le Pen attacked each other in media interviews and walkabouts as final polls showed the gap between them narrowing on the last day of campaigning before Sunday’s first-round vote.

Macron said Le Pen was “lying” to voters about her “racist” manifesto programme, which includes banning the Muslim headscarf, and accused her of “complacency” in her ties with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

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Killing of civilians in Bucha and Kyiv condemned as ‘terrible war crime’

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Europe pledges further sanctions against Russia after reports of killing of scores of unarmed Ukrainians

Russia stands accused of “terrible” war crimes, as western leaders condemned the killings of unarmed civilians in Bucha and the surrounding areas of Kyiv in alleged atrocities that prompted fresh demands for tougher action against Moscow.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said the Kremlin-ordered attack on his country amounted to genocide, after local officials reported scores of civilians had been killed in the towns of Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel near the capital following the withdrawal of Russian forces.

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Macron kickstarts re-election campaign as Le Pen gains ground

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Voters trust French president over his handling of war in Ukraine but accuse him of ducking political debate at home

The French president Emmanuel Macron is aiming to kickstart his re-election campaign this week with walkabouts outside Paris and a big rally in the capital, after the diplomatic pressures of the war in Ukraine limited his canvassing at home – leading to a dip in the polls and worries of a low turn-out.

Macron, 44, is hoping next month to be the first French president to win re-election in 20 years, but he has recently dropped two to three points in the polls as the gap between him and the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen narrows. While he remains favourite the next 10 days of campaigning are seen as fraught and risky amid anger over the cost of living, disillusionment with the level of campaign debate and politics in general.

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Russia-Ukraine war: what we know on day 31 of the invasion

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Ukraine’s president again calls on Russia to negotiate while Emmanuel Macron is trying assemble a coalition to evacuate civilians from Mariupol

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, has again urged Russia to negotiate an end to war, but also asserted that Ukraine would not agree to give up any of its territory to achieve peace.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, is trying to assemble an international coalition to evacuate civilians from Mariupol. Macron said France was working with Turkey and Greece on the “humanitarian operation … I will have a new discussion with President Vladimir Putin within the next 48 to 72 hours to work out the details and secure the modalities,” he said.

The US president, Joe Biden, has visited the Polish town of Rzeszów, about an hour’s drive from the Ukrainian border, in a show of support for eastern European states that are seeing Russian aggression wreak havoc in their neighbourhood.

Authorities in Mariupol have said as many as 300 people were killed in a Russian bombing of a theatre last week, putting a death toll for the first time on the deadliest single attack since Moscow launched its invasion.

Western officials have said they believe a Russian commander was run over by mutinous forces during the fighting in Ukraine, in a sign of what they described as the “morale challenges” faced by the invading forces.

Vladimir Putin has accused the west of discriminating against Russian culture, comparing the treatment of Russian cultural figures to that of the “cancelled” Harry Potter author JK Rowling.

The Russian president on Friday signed into law a bill introducing jail terms of up to 15 years for publishing what the Kremlin deems “fake” information about any of Russia’s actions abroad.

Russia’s defence ministry said on Friday that the first phase of its military operation was “generally” complete, and it would focus on the “liberation” of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. US officials were cautious about whether this meant the Kremlin was scaling back its overall objectives amid a haphazard war campaign.

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‘People feel suffocated’: cost of living tops French concerns before election

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As prices rise, there are warnings president could face another protest movement like gilets jaunes

Outside Lidl, Isabelle Martin, a childminder from a village in Creuse, in central France, was loading discounted eggs, sugar and milk into her car. With prices rising, the 55-year-old couldn’t stretch to a full trolley and could rarely afford to drive to Guéret, her nearest town.

“I’m constantly thinking about my bank balance,” she said. At home she turned lights off and cut heating, and she never filled her car’s petrol tank completely “because the cost would be too much of a shock”.

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Emmanuel Macron vows to step up welfare reforms if re-elected

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French president aims to raise pension age and continue cutting taxes for businesses and households

Emmanuel Macron has vowed to intensify his overhaul of France’s welfare state, tax system and labour market if he wins a second term as president next month, arguing that transforming French society would protect people at a time of crisis when the war in Ukraine marks “a return of tragedy in history”.

The 44-year-old centrist leader has risen in the polls since Russia’s invasion and is a clear favourite to win April’s election – which would make him the first French president to win re-election in 20 years. But he has been under pressure from opponents to explain his economic and social policy.

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Putin did not show willingness to end Ukraine war during call, French official says

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German chancellor Olaf Scholz and French president Emmanuel Macron called for an immediate ceasefire on call

Vladimir Putin did not show a willingness to end the war with Ukraine during a call on Saturday with French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Olaf Scholz, a French presidency official said.

Scholz and Macron called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine during the 75-minute phone call with Russian president Vladimir Putin, a German government spokesman added.

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EU leaders announce intention to collectively rearm in face of Putin threat

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Versailles declaration says Russia’s war in Ukraine has heralded ‘tectonic shift in European history’

EU leaders have announced their intention to collectively rearm and become autonomous in food, energy and military hardware in a Versailles declaration that described Russia’s war as “a tectonic shift in European history”.

At a summit in the former royal palace, the 27 heads of state and government said on Friday that the invasion of Ukraine had shown the urgent need for the EU to take responsibility for its own security and to rid itself of dependencies on others.

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Emmanuel Macron declares re-election bid: ‘I am seeking your trust again’

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President will stand again in April and vows to ‘explain our project with clarity and commitment’

Emmanuel Macron has announced he is standing for re-election, in a letter published in a number of local newspapers in France.

The president, like all potential candidates, had until 6pm local time to announce he would run in the April election and to present the country’s constitutional court with 500 signatures from MPs and other elected officials supporting his bid.

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Europe must be more independent and shore up its defence, says Macron

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In TV address French president warns tough economic times are ahead following Ukraine invasion

Emmanuel Macron has warned that Europe must become more independent for its own defence and to ensure energy supplies after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The French president said the conflict had “changed the era” across the continent and that he would be calling a summit of European leaders next week to discuss how to address the “unprecedented challenge” it created.

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Macron to launch re-election race, as rivals face pro-Russia allegations

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The war in Ukraine is the biggest international crisis to overshadow a presidential race in decades

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, is expected to launch his campaign for re-election this week in a race shaken by the war in Ukraine, with key candidates under attack over previous pro-Russia stances.

Macron has left the official declaration of his candidacy to the last minute because of the war, but he must make a move before the 4 March deadline to register.

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French rightwing candidate mocked after dog joins her party

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Valérie Pécresse hounded over allegations that dog named Douglas signed up for Les Républicains presidential primary

French politicians have long embraced domestic animals – from Emmanuel Macron’s rescue dog, Nemo, who once peed on a fireplace during an Elysée meeting, to the far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s hobby of breeding Bengal cats.

But a dog called Douglas from the south of France is causing ridicule for the rightwing presidential candidate Valérie Pécresse.

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Accidental killing of hiker fuels bitter debate over hunting in France

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Woman hit by stray bullet during wild boar hunt sparks row over stricter regulations before presidential election

The accidental killing of a hiker by a teenager who was hunting wild boar has rekindled a bitter debate over stricter regulations of France’s hunting tradition before the presidential election in April.

The 25-year-old woman was walking with a friend along a marked trail near Aurillac in the heavily forested Cantal region when she was hit by a stray bullet on Saturday. She died instantly.

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Macron paves way for potential Putin-Biden summit on Ukraine crisis

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Flurry of phone calls by French president leads to ‘in principle agreement’, as US warns war is imminent

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has invited Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden to attend a summit aimed at de-escalating the Ukraine crisis, and the leaders have agreed in principle, Macron’s office has announced, amid further US warnings that war is imminent.

The Élysée Palace put out a statement on Sunday evening following last-minute diplomatic efforts by the French president to try to dissuade Russia from invading Ukraine.

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‘Insightful and courageous’: Gabon activist Hervé Mombo Kinga dies of Covid

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Celebrated blogger had suffered ill health after spending 17 months in prison for speaking out against president Ali Bongo

Hervé Mombo Kinga, the pro-democracy activist and celebrated blogger who spent 17 months in jail for insulting the Gabonese president, Ali Bongo Ondimba, was not impressed when he saw the pictures of the leader limping up the stairs of France’s presidential palace.

Kinga, who died last week at 47 after contracting Covid, was infuriated by the episode – widely shared in the west African country of Gabon, despite the embarrassment it caused the president, whose family has held power for more than five decades.

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