Paris, April 8 (BNA) French President Emmanuel Macron accused his far-right rival Marine Le Pen of lying to voters about her campaign platform as he sought to rally support two days before the first round of the presidential election.
Macron, whose re-election seemed inevitable just weeks ago, now faces a severe challenge from Le Pen. Reuters said that her strong return in the opinion polls put her victory within the margin of error in some opinion polls.
“Its fundamentals have not changed: it is a racist program aimed at dividing society and it is very brutal,” Macron told Le Parisien newspaper. “There was a clear strategy (from Le Pen’s camp) to hide the brutality of its programme.”
Le Pen told France Info that she was “shocked” by Macron’s accusation of racism, which she rejected, saying her program aims to prioritize the rights of French people regardless of their origin.
She campaigned on purchasing power, smoothing her image and capitalizing on key voters’ concerns with the promise of tax cuts.
“It’s lying to the people,” Macron said, criticizing Le Pen’s campaign pledges as empty promises that it will not be able to finance and that will cause investors to flee, leading to mass unemployment.
While Le Pen did not change the substance of her party’s anti-immigration platform, which would strip foreigners of many rights and ban headscarves in all public places, she did not focus her campaign on it.
It helped rival far-right candidate Eric Zeymore’s extremist and outspoken views appear more prevalent, and several left-wing voters told pollsters that, unlike in 2017, they would not vote in the second round to keep Le Pen out of power.
Barring surprises, Le Pen is expected to win on Sunday a ticket to face Macron in the run-off on April 24. Macron is still ahead in opinion polls who still see him as the most likely winner.
But on Friday he regretted entering the race late.
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