Yahoo – AFP,
Clare BYRNE, 24 April 2017
French President Francois Hollande on Monday urged voters to reject far-right leader Marine Le Pen in next month's presidential runoff against pro-EU candidate Emmanuel Macron.
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| Emmanuel Macron, frontrunner to become France's next president, set up his En Marche! movement just a year ago |
French President Francois Hollande on Monday urged voters to reject far-right leader Marine Le Pen in next month's presidential runoff against pro-EU candidate Emmanuel Macron.
Macron is
the clear favourite to become France's youngest-ever president after topping
Sunday's first round of voting with 24.01 percent of votes, ahead of National
Front (FN) leader Le Pen on 21.30 percent, according to final results.
The vote
revealed a country deeply divided, with 39-year-old Macron, an advocate of open
borders and free trade, leading the vote in cities and Le Pen topping the polls
in rural areas that feel left behind by globalisation.
In a solemn
address to voters, Hollande warned of the "risk for our country" of a
far-right victory and said he himself would vote for Macron, who served as his
economy minister for two years.
The
Socialist president joined a long line of politicians urging voters to back
Macron in order to thwart the anti-immigration, anti-EU Le Pen.
Le Pen
seized on the flurry of endorsements for Macron from the ruling Socialists and
main opposition Republicans -- both of which crashed out in the first round --
as proof he was the choice of the discredited old guard.
Visiting a
market in the northern town of Rouvroy on Monday, 48-year-old Le Pen lashed out
at the "rotten old republican front" -- the ad-hoc anti-FN coalition
formed by mainstream parties whenever the party is at the gates of power.
"I've
come here to start the second round campaign in the only way I know -- on the
ground with the French people," she said.
 |
Marine Le
Pen is now trying to cast her rival Emmanuel Macron as the
choice of the
discredited old guard
|
Macron
received several congratulatory calls on Monday from European leaders relieved
to find him in pole position.
Thanking
Hollande in a tweet for his support, the former investment banker called on the
French to "remain true to France's values" in the May 7 runoff.
He and Le
Pen will take part in a TV debate on May 3.
Healing
wounds
France's
traditional political class suffered a stunning blow on Sunday, with voters
fleeing the ruling Socialists and conservative Republicans who have governed
for the past half century in favour of the extremes or outsiders.
Both Macron
and Le Pen campaigned as rebels who transcended the left-right divide.
Conservative
candidate Francois Fillon was seen as the favourite until January when his
campaign was torpedoed by allegations that he gave his British-born wife and
two of his children fictitious jobs as parliamentary assistants.
In the end,
the Republicans party candidate trailed in third with 20.01 percent, ahead of
radical left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon on 19.58 percent.
On Monday,
Fillon told the party's top brass he lacked "the legitimacy" to lead
them into parliamentary elections in June.
"I
need to rethink my life and heal my family's wounds," he told them,
according to a statement.
Fillon and
fifth-placed Socialist candidate Benoit Hamon have both rallied behind Macron
but Melenchon pointedly avoided endorsing the centrist.
 |
Eurosceptics
took around 46 percent of the first-round vote
|
'Patriots
v nationalists'
Addressing
thousands of flag-waving supporters in Paris on Sunday evening, Macron said he
aimed to unite "patriots" against "the threat of
nationalists".
Le Pen, who
has been hoping to emulate Donald Trump's victory in the US, said the French
faced a choice between "runaway globalisation" and a protectionist
France.
Her plans
to restore France's borders with its European neighbours, pull out of the
eurozone and hold a referendum on leaving the EU had sown fear of another
devastating blow to the bloc after Britain's vote to leave.
The euro
and European stocks rose Monday, buoyed by polls suggesting Macron would beat
Le Pen by more than 20 percentage points in the second round.
After
addressing euphoric supporters in Paris on Sunday, Macron spent the evening
with friends at a well-known Paris bistro, drawing criticism for what some saw
as his triumphalist attitude.
"We
need to be humble. The election hasn't been won and we need to bring people
together to win," Richard Ferrand, secretary general of Macron's En Marche
(On the Move) movement, acknowledged on BFM television Monday.
Le Pen
gained over 1.2 million new voters compared with her last presidential bid in
2012, securing 7.7 million ballots, a result she hailed as
"historic".
But her
share of the vote was far below a March poll high of 27 percent.
Related Article:
"France torn apart"? International media react to presidential vote https://t.co/7tFiTVFk4M #France2017 pic.twitter.com/W0BXRlGTF7— AFP news agency (@AFP) April 24, 2017
Who is Emmanuel Macron? #France2017 pic.twitter.com/HyeK8guiZM— AFP news agency (@AFP) April 24, 2017
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“… With free choice, the percentage of DNA efficiently started to go down as humanity grew. As soon as the DNA started to lose percentage, the gender balance was dysfunctional. If you want to have a test of any society, anywhere on the planet, and you want to know the DNA percentage number [consciousness quota] as a society, there's an easy test: How do they perceive and treat their women? The higher the DNA functionality, the more the feminine divine is honored. This is the test! Different cultures create different DNA consciousness, even at the same time on the planet. So you can have a culture on Earth at 25 percent and one at 37 - and if you did, they would indeed clash. …”
“… You're at 35. There's an equality here, you're starting to see the dark and light, and it's changing everything. You take a look at history and you've come a long way, but it took a long time to get here. Dear ones, we've seen this process before and the snowball is rolling. There isn't anything in the way that's going to stop it. In the path of this snowball of higher consciousness are all kinds of things that will be run over and perish. Part of this is what you call "the establishment". Watch for some very big established things to fall over! The snowball will simply knock them down. …”
“… You're at 35. There's an equality here, you're starting to see the dark and light, and it's changing everything. You take a look at history and you've come a long way, but it took a long time to get here. Dear ones, we've seen this process before and the snowball is rolling. There isn't anything in the way that's going to stop it. In the path of this snowball of higher consciousness are all kinds of things that will be run over and perish. Part of this is what you call "the establishment". Watch for some very big established things to fall over! The snowball will simply knock them down. …”
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