Hollande urges French to reject Le Pen in presidential run-off vote

[webfact]

Hollande urges French to reject Le Pen in presidential run-off vote

By Bate Felix and John Irish

 

A woman walks past official posters of candidates for the 2017 French presidential election Marine Le Pen, French National Front (FN) political party leader (L) and Emmanuel Macron, head of the political movement En Marche !, or Onwards !, (R) at a local market in Bethune, France, April 24, 2017. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol

 

PARIS (Reuters) - France's outgoing president, Francois Hollande, on Monday urged people to back centrist Emmanuel Macron in a vote to choose his successor next month and reject far-right leader Marine Le Pen, whose place in the run-off represented a "risk" for France.

 

Macron and Le Pen, leader of the National Front (FN), go head-to-head on May 7 after taking the top two places in Sunday's first round.

 

Opinion polls indicate that the business-friendly Macron, who has never held elected office, will take at least 61 percent of the vote against Le Pen after two defeated rivals pledged to back him to thwart her eurosceptic, anti-immigrant platform.

 

Hollande, a Socialist nearing the end of five years of unpopular rule, threw his weight behind his former economy minister in a televised address, saying Le Pen's policies were divisive and stigmatised sections of the population.

 

"The presence of the far right in the second round is a risk for the country," he said. "What is at stake is France's make-up, its unity, its membership of Europe and its place in the world."

 

Global markets reacted with relief to Sunday's vote, which broke the dominance of established parties of the centre-left and centre-right but still left the most market-friendly and internationally minded of the remaining contenders in pole position to become France's next leader.

 

The euro <EUR=> touched five-month peaks while Europe's STOXX 600 index <.STOXX> rose 2 percent.

 

Surveys pointing to a clear Macron victory soothed investors who have been unnerved by Le Pen's pledges to ditch the euro, print money and possibly quit the EU. Many had feared another anti-establishment shock to follow Britain's "Brexit" vote and Donald Trump's election as U.S. president.

 

BATTLE BEGINS

 

Le Pen said late on Monday she was taking "a leave of absence" from leading the FN to focus on campaigning, in a move that appeared to be a mere formality that changes nothing in her campaign platform.

 

She told France 2 television: "I will feel more free and above all, above party politics, which I think is important."

 

Le Pen has said for months she is not, strictly speaking, an FN candidate but a candidate backed by the FN. She has long distanced herself from her maverick father Jean-Marie, the former FN leader, and in the election campaign has put neither her party's name nor its trademark flame logo on her posters.

 

Opening the battle for second-round votes, Le Pen highlighted the continuing threat of Islamist militancy, which has claimed more than 230 lives in France since 2015, saying the 39-year-old Macron was "to say the least, weak" on the issue.

 

She also said she wanted to talk to sovereignist Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, who won nearly five percent of the first-round vote and has not said which side he would take in the next.

 

"His platform is extremely close to ours. Patriots should come together to fight those who promote unbridled globalisation," she said.

 

Le Pen has promised to suspend the EU's open-border agreement on France's frontiers and expel foreigners who are on the watch lists of intelligence services.

 

Macron's internal security programme calls for 10,000 more police officers, and 15,000 new prison places, and he has recruited a number of security experts to his entourage.

 

However, opinion polls over the course of the campaign have consistently found voters were more concerned about the economy and the trustworthiness of politicians.

 

Le Pen's campaign took aim on Monday at what they see as further weak spots: Macron's previous job as an investment banker and his role as a deregulating economy minister under Hollande.

 

Analysts say Le Pen's best chance of overhauling Macron's lead in the polls is to paint him as a part of an elite aloof from ordinary French people and their problems.

 

"Emmanuel is not a patriot. He sold off national companies. He criticised French culture," Florian Philippot, deputy leader of Le Pen's National Front, told BFM TV.

 

Philippot called Macron "arrogant" and said his victory speech on Sunday had shown disdain for the French people by making it appear as though the presidency was already won.

 

In that speech, Macron appeared to respond to Le Pen's claim to be the protector of France's workers and their values by saying: "I want to be the president of patriots in the face of a threat from nationalists."

 

Le Pen needs to avoid a repetition of 2002, when her father, FN founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, surprisingly made the second round, but was then humiliated by right-wing president Jacques Chirac as mainstream parties united to block a party they considered racist and anti-Semitic.

 

His daughter has done much to soften the FN's image, gathering support especially among young people - a quarter of whom are unemployed - with her promises to push back against "rampant globalisation".

 

BUILDING A MAJORITY

 

Still, two defeated candidates - conservative Francois Fillon and Socialist Benoit Hamon - did not even wait for Sunday's count to urge their supporters to rally behind Macron, who took 23.74 percent of votes on Sunday to Le Pen's 21.53.

 

A Harris survey saw Macron going on to win the run-off against her by 64 percent to 36. An Ipsos/Sopra Steria poll gave a similar result while a new poll by Opinionway on Monday put the margin at 61 percent to 39 percent.

 

Whichever candidate wins on May 7 will need to try to build a majority six weeks later in a parliament where the FN has only two seats and Macron's year-old En Marche! (Onwards!) movement has none.

 

Macron has already enlisted some 50 sitting Socialist lawmakers to his cause, as well as a number of centrist party grandees.

 

Manuel Valls, a former Socialist prime minister on the right wing of the party who broke with the far-left Hamon's campaign after failing to beat him for the party ticket, said on Monday he would be ready to work with Macron.

 

"We must help him (Macron) as much as we can to ensure Le Pen is kept as low as possible," Valls told France Inter radio.

Sunday's outcome was a huge defeat for the two centre-right and centre-left groupings that have dominated French politics for 60 years.

Conservative Francois Fillon, who had been the favourite to win the election before allegations emerged that he had paid his wife and two children from the public purse for work they did not do, came third with less than 20 percent. He said on Monday that he would not be at the forefront of his party's parliamentary campaign.

 

Hamon got only a third of the 19.5 percent secured by the maverick former Trotskyist Jean-Luc Melenchon, emphasising the disarray of the French Left after five years of Hollande.

 

(Additional reporting by Michel Rose, Geert De Clercq, Elizabeth Pineau, Ingrid Melander; Writing by Richard Balmforth; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Louise Ireland)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-04-25

[chrissables]

Never held an elected office. 

 

If he was a girl, her husband would be in jail for undersage sex and abusing a student.

 

Never mind, the so called elite know better. 

[DiamondKing]

Lets hope Le Pen comes through 

Polls are BS as we know after Brexit and Trump and hopefully Le Pen will win and Save france 

[dick dasterdly]

I've never understood why unpopular politicians believe their opinions will sway the electorate??

[ilostmypassword]

39 minutes ago, DiamondKing said:

Lets hope Le Pen comes through 

Polls are BS as we know after Brexit and Trump and hopefully Le Pen will win and Save france 

In the case of Brexit the polls showed the outcome as virtually tied. It was pundits who downplayed its chances. As for Trump, the polls showed him losing the popular vote by 3 points. He lost by 2.

As for the French polls, they were spot on about this round of elections.  

[chilli42]

I a, sure this will sway the opinions of the 6% of people that still think this man has any value.

[Baerboxer]

 

Of course Hollande urges people to vote for his protege Macron.

 

A former minister in Hollande's cabinet who formed his own party as presumably he and Hollande knew who unelectable the Socialists had now become, thanks in part to Hoallande's unpopularity.

[dunroaming]

Le Pen has "temporarily" resigned from the FN in an attempt to try to appeal to a larger audience.  You can change your shirt madam but that won't hide the fact that you are a racist homophobic bitch. 

[Jingthing]

4 hours ago, dick dasterdly said:

I've never understood why unpopular politicians believe their opinions will sway the electorate??

Well, I'll tell you.

In this case if it was Hollande vs. La Pen, Hollande would win because La Pen is a bloody fascist. 

Of course Hollande has absurdly low approval ratings and couldn't possibly have made it to the finals ... but my point stands. 

[Jingthing]

5 hours ago, chrissables said:

Never held an elected office. 

 

If he was a girl, her husband would be in jail for undersage sex and abusing a student.

 

Never mind, the so called elite know better. 

On the gender thing, you're correct, there is a double standard about that, but in this case, Macron is on the money end of that double standard, and won't hurt him in his successful candidacy for the presidency. 

[dunroaming]

Macron will win comfortably and that is a good thing for the UK as apparently he favours a soft Brexit deal.  Let's face it we need any help we can get with Brexit!

[ilostmypassword]

49 minutes ago, dunroaming said:

Macron will win comfortably and that is a good thing for the UK as apparently he favours a soft Brexit deal.  Let's face it we need any help we can get with Brexit!

Macron Vows Decision on Bid, Warns No Brexit Favors for May

“I am attached to a strict approach to Brexit: I respect the British vote but the worst thing would be a sort of weak EU vis-a-vis the British,” Macron said. “I don’t want a tailor-made approach where the British have the best of two worlds. That will be too big an incentive for others to leave and kill the European idea, which is based on shared responsibilities.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-14/france-s-macron-rejects-tailor-made-deal-for-britain-on-eu-exit

There's also a long and detailed interview with Macron about his views on the EU in general, not just Brexit.

 

Edited April 25, 2017 by ilostmypassword

[dunroaming]

18 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

Macron Vows Decision on Bid, Warns No Brexit Favors for May

“I am attached to a strict approach to Brexit: I respect the British vote but the worst thing would be a sort of weak EU vis-a-vis the British,” Macron said. “I don’t want a tailor-made approach where the British have the best of two worlds. That will be too big an incentive for others to leave and kill the European idea, which is based on shared responsibilities.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-14/france-s-macron-rejects-tailor-made-deal-for-britain-on-eu-exit

There's also a long and detailed interview with Macron about his views on the EU in general, not just Brexit.

 

Hmm!  Thanks for that.  I tried to go back and find the article I read that said that Macron was in favour of a softer Brexit but I couldn't find it.  Hope it's not senile dementia setting in!  So not so good news for the UK then.   Still has to be better than Le Pen, almost anything is better than Le Pen.

[ilostmypassword]

4 minutes ago, dunroaming said:

Hmm!  Thanks for that.  I tried to go back and find the article I read that said that Macron was in favour of a softer Brexit but I couldn't find it.  Hope it's not senile dementia setting in!  So not so good news for the UK then.   Still has to be better than Le Pen, almost anything is better than Le Pen.

And you have to remember that all it takes is for just 1 country to refuse to agree to the terms of Brexit and that's it. As I recall, not too long ago, it was just 1 province in Belgium that nearly scuppered a treaty. It seems unlikely to me that all the nations in the EU are going to agree to a soft Brexit. Which also puts the lie to how weak a thing sovereignty is for nations in the EU.

[chrissables]

2 hours ago, Jingthing said:

On the gender thing, you're correct, there is a double standard about that, but in this case, Macron is on the money end of that double standard, and won't hurt him in his successful candidacy for the presidency. 

As i understand it the EU government, the unelected part, if not all are supposed to be neutral and not back anyone.

 

So with these unelected <deleted> influencing the election or at least trying to, it makes the whole thing a joke. 

 

If Macron is the right person (i don't think so) let there be a fair and open debate with no interference from EU.

Edited April 25, 2017 by chrissables

[Jingthing]

The world should unite to defeat fascists. Best tactic is prevention. Macron winning does that.

[Aforek]

8 hours ago, DiamondKing said:

Lets hope Le Pen comes through 

Polls are BS as we know after Brexit and Trump and hopefully Le Pen will win and Save france 

May be you didn't notice that for the  first round, every poll was right , all said Macron first, 1-2  points ahead of  Le Pen  ; French polls are often right 

don't  forget that FN has no political friends, that's why she asks the voices of Dupont-Aignan ( less than 5 % ) : she has the same followers for many years but is unable to get new people ( let's say 30 % , not enough to win ) , people who vote Le Pen are or not much educated people or desesperate people and they believe all her lies and are naive, she is a " bourgeoise ", don't forget , she doesn't care of " le peuple "