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Today in France: The latest from the election trail

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Today in France: The latest from the election trail
Emmanuel Macron takes part in a pre-election walkabout in Dijon. Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP

From anti-vax votes to granny-hugging, here's the Tuesday roundup from the election trail as France prepares to head to the polls and elect its next president.

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Polls narrow

Polls, as they have been for months, still predict that Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen will be the highest-scoring candidates in the first round of polling, making the second round a re-run of 2017.

But more recent polling on the likely result of the head-to-head between Macron and Le Pen shows that the result is getting tighter, with some predicting a final result of 53 percent to Macron v 47 percent to Le Pen.

 

Many are also predicting that turnout will be low.

Anti-vax vote

Four candidates - Marine Le Pen, Eric Zemmour and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan on the far right and Jean-Luc MĂ©lenchon of the far left - have said that they will reinstate unvaccinated healthcare workers if elected.

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France made the Covid vaccine mandatory for health workers in September 2021. Around 3,000 staff members were suspended on the day the rule came into force, although many of those went on to get vaccinated and returned to work. The rest remain technically employed, but suspended without pay.

The four candidates all say they would reinstate the unvaccinated workers, and Le Pen says she would give out back pay for the months of suspension.

It remains unclear whether this strategy is a vote-winner. Florian Philipott, the anti-vax leader of the health pass protests, attempted to stand in the presidential elections, but attracted very low levels of interest and just a single signature of support - all candidates require 500 signatures to stand.

Macron meeting

Emmanuel Macron is holding his first big campaign rally on Saturday in the 30,000 seater La DĂ©fense Arena in Paris. His team said that 25,000 places were registered in the first 48 hours, and they believe the event will be a sell-out.

Due to the war in Ukraine, Macron has been running a muted campaign, with his ministers fronting many campaign rallies, meaning the La DĂ©fense event will be one of the few chances for die-hard fans to see him in the flesh.

He did take part in a walkabout event in Dijon on Monday, where he was enthusiastically greeted by some, but also asked difficult questions about the cost-of-living crisis from low-wage workers.

The French term usually used for these events is a bain de foule (literally a crowd-bath) and the slightly jokey term sometimes used for politicians taking part is croque-mémé (granny hugger). Macron appeared to be taking the term to heart, and is shown below hugging an elderly lady (we have no information on whether she has grandchildren).

Emmanuel Macron, croque-mémé. Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP

 

Campaign trips

Valérie Pécresse has tested negative for Covid so is back to in-person campaigning. She is off to Lille to visit the suburb of Marcq-en-Baroeul. Meanwhile Yannick Jadot is in Saint-Brieuc and Anne Hidalgo in Nancy.

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