Macron, Le Pen trade barbs ahead of run-off

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen traded barbs on Monday as they embarked on a final fortnight of campaigning ahead of a run-off vote shaping up to be a much closer fight than their contest five years ago.

After a first round of voting on Sunday, Macron came top with 27.85 percent, while Le Pen finished second at 23.15 percent, final results showed on Monday. As the top two finishers, they advanced to a second round scheduled for April 24.

Far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon came close to qualifying for the run-off after a late surge gave him a score of just under 22 percent. The Macron-Le Pen duel is a replay of the 2017 election final from which Macron emerged victorious with 66 percent. This time however, polls suggest it will be a closer contest.

Making an aggressive start to the next phase of the campaign, Macron headed to deprived former mining and steel-making areas of northern France that have become a stronghold for Le Pen. "I’m not going to pretend nothing happened, I have heard the message from those who voted for the extremes, including those who voted for Mrs Le Pen," Macron told a scrum of journalists who followed him in Denain.

"I realise that people will vote for me to stop her, but I want to convince people. So I may possibly round out my project" with more social welfare measures, he said. In an interview with the Voix du Nord newspaper, he called Le Pen a "demagogue", saying she was "someone who said to people what they want to hear at the moment they want to hear it."

Le Pen met with her campaign team on Monday morning before heading to visit a cereal farmer in the central Yonne region, which placed her first in Sunday’s vote. Returning to the main priority of French people -- and the focus of all her campaigning -- she accused Macron of doing too little to help voters with the rising cost of living.

"Anticipating events is absolutely essential. At the moment, we’re improvising," she said, before repeating her promises to slash taxes on food and fuel. The arch-nationalist, 53, also denied that she planned for France to leave the European Union, saying instead she wanted to "change the structure" of the 27-member club.

Polls gauging second-round voting intentions mostly point to around 53 percent for Macron and 47 percent for Le Pen. One poll, however, by the Ifop-Fiducial group suggested Macron could have only a razor-thin win with 51 percent versus 49 percent.

While her opponents accuse her of being divisive and racist, Le Pen has sought to project a more moderate image in this campaign and has focused on voters’ daily worries over inflation.