In France, the first round of the presidential election will take place on Sunday

“Most French people want change,” said Christian Malar, a leading French political analyst and commentator on the Israeli television channel i24 News.

Neither the Covid-19 pandemic policy nor the diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis in Ukraine have helped Macron to overcome the French’s deep resentment against him. Macro, a reform-minded technocrat, has for years been seen as an arrogant and indifferent politician to the concerns of ordinary citizens, one of the causes of the 2018 yellow vest protest movement.

“Many people feel abandoned and despised,” says Malar.

Lepena, on the other hand, has softened some of his sharper positions on issues such as immigration and Islam, and has focused more on citizens’ everyday problems, such as high inflation, Malar admits. She has also benefited from the fact that the French electorate is generally on the right. The leader of the national association has managed to improve his bad image, the expert believes.

One of the latest polls shows that in the second round of elections, Macron will only win 51% of the vote, while 49% of the French are going to vote for Lepen, bringing the current president’s lead to statistical error.

Given that the French economy is the second largest in the European Union (EU) and that it is the only nuclear state in the EU and occupies one of the five permanent seats on the UN Security Council, everyone is concerned about what might be expected if Lepena arrives at the Elysee Palace. .

It is quite certain that this will not benefit Paris’s relations with the EU, as Lepena has long been one of the bloc’s harshest critics, and she is expected to join other European national conservative leaders against Brussels.

Malar believes that after a possible victory in the election, Lepena would also take a tougher stance in relations with the current US administration, as she has always been a supporter of former President Donald Trump.

However, the French have traditionally tended to succumb to protest voting in the first round of elections, but choose to vote for “the least evil” in the second round. This could benefit Macron.

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