“This is unacceptable. I am shocked,” Macron told French television about the threats. “I challenge Le Pen’s ideas. But with respect.”
The official election campaign, which will last two weeks, begins today. The first round of voting is on April 10. Two weeks later, the decision will be made in the second round, between the two candidates who received the most votes in the first round.
In the polls President Macron has been in the lead for months. He would now receive about 28 percent of the vote. Le Pen seems to be in a safe second place, with 19 percent of the vote. The other candidates follow at a relatively large distance. Zemmour, who got off to a flying start last fall, is now fourth with 10 percent.
Hardly any campaign
It is remarkable that Macron leads all polls by a margin. He hardly campaigns. He keeps quiet, hardly leaves his palace, does not respond to criticism from opponents, and above all does what the French have appreciated from him since the end of a few weeks: diplomacy around the crisis in Ukraine.
The president, unlike his opponents, hardly organizes large public gatherings. There is only one on the agenda: this Saturday in Paris. There is hardly any contact with the voters. Macron is also absent from TV debates: he does not want to participate in them for the next two weeks.
It has been jokingly called “the most minimalist campaign in our history”:
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