Category Archives: France

Macron lead over Le Pen stabilises as election scrutiny intensifies

Posted on by

Policies of far-right candidate put under spotlight, while both contenders try to woo leftwing voters

Emmanuel Macron has consolidated his lead over Marine Le Pen as France’s presidential race enters its final week, according to polls, suggesting harsher scrutiny of the far-right challenger’s plans may be shifting the race’s dynamic.

Six days from the runoff that will decide who occupies the Élysée Palace for the next five years, all 16 polls carried out since the first-round vote on 10 April have put the incumbent ahead, by between seven and 12 percentage points.

Grant police a “presumption of self-defence” and the right to file anonymous complaints.

Radically boost the number of prison sentences handed down.

Deny healthcare to undocumented migrants.

“Restore neutrality” to an education system based on “traditional values”.

Continue reading...

Macron and Le Pen battle to win over ‘politically orphaned’ French voters

Posted on by

In a Paris suburb, opinion is divided over who to vote for after the defeat of leftwing Jean-Luc Mélenchon


Emmanuel Macron is engaged in the battle of his career to persuade leftwing voters – many of whom have taken to the streets to oppose his government over the past five years – to turn out next Sunday and give him a second term in office.

Both Macron and Le Pen need to win over a chunk of the 7.7 million people who voted for the radical left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, narrowly knocked out in the first-round ballot last week.

Continue reading...

France braced for protests as Macron and Le Pen prepare for presidential runoff

Posted on by

Rights groups call for united front against far-right candidate as polls predict a win for centrist Emmanuel Macron

Protests were expected around France on Saturday as opponents of the far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen seek to form a united front to prevent her from winning an election runoff against incumbent Emmanuel Macron on 24 April.

Police warned of possible incidents as demonstrators convened in 30 cities.

Continue reading...

Macron wants cap on ‘shocking and excessive’ executive pay

Posted on by

In run-up to the presidential vote, French premier calls for EU-wide ceiling after head of carmaker Stellantis receives €19m

Emmanuel Macron will push for a cap on excessive executive pay should he be re-elected president after he described as “shocking and excessive” the €19m (£15.7m) pay packet handed to the head of carmaker Stellantis.

Macron, who is campaigning in the run-up to the final vote for the French presidency on 24 April against far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, told France Info radio that he was in favour of an EU-wide ceiling for top executives’ pay.

Continue reading...

‘Extraordinary’: ancient tombs and statues unearthed beneath Notre Dame Cathedral

Posted on by

Archaeological dig also finds body-shaped lead sarcophagus buried at the heart of the fire-ravaged monument

An archaeological dig under Notre Dame Cathedral has uncovered an extraordinary treasure of statues, sculptures, tombs and pieces of an original rood screen dating back to the 13th century.

The find included several ancient tombs from the middle ages and a body-shaped lead sarcophagus buried at the heart of the fire-ravaged monument under the floor of the transept crossing.

Continue reading...

Macron and Le Pen restart campaigns with Mélenchon a potential kingmaker

Posted on by

French president emerges in lead but tranche of far-right voters likely to transfer support to Le Pen

Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen went in opposite directions on Monday in an attempt to drum up support from new voters they need to win the final round of France’s presidential election in less than a fortnight.

Macron headed north, where he spent several hours talking to crowds at Denain, a former mining town once controlled by socialists but now a far-right stronghold, and promised he would listen to candidates “who failed to qualify” in Sunday’s first round of the election.

Continue reading...

France election: five key takeaways and moments ahead

Posted on by

Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen face tense runoff after first round of voting in presidential race

A lacklustre French presidential election campaign overshadowed first by the Covid pandemic and then by the war in Ukraine has exploded into life, propelling Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen into what looks like being a brutal runoff.

Here are five key takeaways from the first round of voting as France and wider Europe brace for a nervous two weeks before the deciding 24 April vote that will determine who occupies the Élysée Palace for the next five years.

Continue reading...

New Caledonia leader calls for France to grant independence vote to counter China’s ‘omnipresence’ in Pacific

Posted on by

Pro-independence parties boycotted last year’s referendum on a split from France, arguing Covid made campaigning too difficult

A prominent New Caledonian indigenous party has said that if France wants to have an economic and political stake in the Pacific – as China’s influence in the region rises to “omnipresence” – it needs to grant New Caledonia a fourth referendum on independence and treat the Pacific island as a partner, rather than a colony.

The calls come after a contentious referendum on independence last year which was boycotted by pro-independence parties, after they said holding a referendum during a severe Covid outbreak that disproportionately hit indigenous Kanak and Pasifika populations would not return a fair result.

Continue reading...

France presidential election 2022 live: Macron to face Le Pen in second round, according to projections

Posted on by

Follow the latest updates as projections predict a run-off between president, Emmanuel Macron, and Marine Le Pen, from the far-right National Rally

Plenty of Macron merch on offer for those at the outgoing president’s post-vote pep talk:

The abstention rate, likely to prove crucial in this election, is likely to be between 25% and 26.5 %, according to French pollsters – higher than in the previous 2017 first round (22.2%), but not at 2002’s record level of 28.4 %.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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?”

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

French election 2022: Projected result and latest vote tallies

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

French presidential election could see historically low turnout, pollsters say

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

The rise and rise of France’s far-right Marine Le Pen

Posted on by

National Rally leader is closing gap on Emmanuel Macron in polls for this month’s presidential election

From her housing estate in northern Marseille, Elisabeth, 68, who once voted for the left, will return a ballot for the far-right Marine Le Pen in the French presidential election this month. “People used to think Marine was nasty,” she said. “Now they realise she’s not. Other politicians are taking her ideas. They all talk like her now.”

Elisabeth left school at 16 and worked at a shoemaker’s, in factories and as a housekeeper, but her €800 pension barely covers bills and food. “I live on credit, overdrawn by the middle of the month,” she said. “I make a weak stew and it lasts me three days. But Le Pen will cut taxes and put money in our pockets.” She agrees with Le Pen’s anti-immigration stance. She feels “Europeans” are becoming outnumbered in multi-ethnic northern Marseille and worries about crime. “I’ve been mugged twice, once for a necklace, once for a cigarette,” she said. Society is tense and divided, she feels, but Le Pen will “calm things down”.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

Rescuers search for light aircraft with two onboard missing in Channel

Posted on by

P-28 plane took off from airfield in Warwickshire and was bound for Le Touquet in northern France

Rescue teams have carried out a search in the Channel after a plane flying from the UK with two people onboard went missing.

The French coastguard told Sky News the aircraft is the “subject of a worrying disappearance” and a search for the plane was carried out “all afternoon”.

Continue reading...

French court plays tapes of Bataclan killings at survivor’s request

Posted on by

Families, friends and survivors listen in silence to recordings from inside theatre where 90 people died

On the evening of 13 November 2015, about 1,500 concertgoers were watching the California rock band Eagles of Death Metal at the Bataclan theatre in central Paris. At the beginning it was “a great show”, fans reported afterwards. Youngsters were dancing in the pit in front of the stage and on the balcony; some were buying drinks at the bar.

On Friday, for the first time, a French court heard audio recordings and saw photographs of what happened next. There was silence as the court was played three sound recordings from the Bataclan attack, one of a series of bombings and shootings across Paris that killed 130 people and injured more than 300.

Continue reading...

French fashion photographer Patrick Demarchelier dies at 78

Posted on by

Demarchelier photographed Princess Diana, Beyonce and Madonna during long career

Patrick Demarchelier, the fashion photographer who worked with high-profile figures including Diana, Princess of Wales, has died at the age of 78.

His death was announced by his representatives on Instagram on Thursday. “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Patrick Demarchelier on 31 March 2022, at the age of 78,” the post read. “He is survived by his wife Mia, his three sons Gustaf, Arthur, Victor and three grandchildren.”

Continue reading...