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The first round of the presidential campaign ends Friday evening at 11:59 p.m. Here’s what you need to know a few days before the election.
The first round of the presidential election , it’s in six days. After a campaign marked by the Covid-19 , the war in Ukraine and the absence of debates between the candidates before the ballot on 10 and 24 April, we are now entering the home stretch. For the candidates, Emmanuel Macron and Nathalie Arthaud, there are therefore only a few days left to convince. Meetings, trips, polls: here is what you need to know regarding this last week before the first round of the presidential election.
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What are the last big moments of this campaign?
Before the end of the electoral campaign scheduled for Friday at 11:59 p.m., here are the last major events:
-Emmanuel Macron goes to Finistère on Tuesday, alongside Richard Ferrand, current president of the National Assembly and one of his first supporters. “Four years following his arrival in Quimper where he had promoted the idea of a new pact between the State and the regions, he will address the inhabitants and the elected representatives of Brittany on the Place de Spézet, before discussing with them during a large republican buffet. », says the press release. He should also go to Ile-de-France on Thursday. After France Inter this Monday, Emmanuel Macron should also be the guest Wednesday evening of TF1 and Friday morning of RTL. On the other hand, according to The Parisian, the Head of State said no to the France 2 broadcast, IT’Slysée 2022.
-Marine Le Pen has scheduled a blitz of media interviews for this final week. It will notably be on April 5 on France Inter and on LCI, on April 6 on Europe 1 and on TF1, on April 7 on RTL and on April 8 on France Info. Thursday evening, Marine Le Pen will also be in Perpignan for her last campaign meeting.
-Jean-Luc Melenchon will be Tuesday evening in Lille for its last big event before the first round. At the same time, in 11 other cities, activists will be able to follow and listen to the hologram of the candidate of insubordinate France. On Wednesday, he will be invited to the 20 hours of France 2 before being the next day on TF1.
-Eric Zemmour has also planned many appearances in the media during this last week of the campaign. It will notably be Monday evening on TF1, Tuesday on France 2, Wednesday on France Inter, Thursday on LCI and Friday on CNews. A live broadcast with the Médiavenir Twitter account (2 million subscribers) is also scheduled for Wednesday evening. Three trips are announced Wednesday, Thursday and Friday but we do not yet know where.
-Valerie Pécresse will be Thursday evening in Lyon, alongside the former president of the Republicans, Laurent Wauquiez, for his last major meeting before April 10. We don’t know yet all of its other media events .
-The environmentalist candidate Yannick Jadot will be at a meeting on Thursday evening in Nantes, the last public meeting scheduled before the first round.
What are we going to talk regarding?
What are the topics that will emerge during this last week of the campaign? In times of equality of speaking time, it will be difficult for a candidate to bring out new proposals. However, the subject of purchasing power is likely to always be at the center of the debate.
According to an Ifop survey for the JDD, 93% of respondents believe that the question of purchasing power will play a role in the presidential election and, for 74%, on their own vote. The war in Ukraine is also still at the center of media debate, especially since the revelation of Russian abuses committed in the town of Boutcha, near kyiv. The subject might mobilize President Macron this week as Josep Borrell claimed that the European Union was discussing in “emergency” new sanctions once morest Moscow.
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As in 2002 with Grandpa Voise, an elderly man attacked just before the first round of the presidential election, a news item might also change the tone of this end of the campaign. Marine Le Pen, Yannick Jadot and Eric Zemmour have tweeted in recent hours on the story of Jéremy Cohen, a 31-year-old Frenchman of the Jewish faith, who died in February hit by a tram in Bobigny. A terrible video widely shared on social networks shows that the young man, who is disabled, was attacked by a dozen young people before fleeing and hitting the tram. The family recounted Radio Chalom that the victim’s yarmulke was found at the scene. Since February, the case had had no media resonance and was revived by the broadcast of the video.
On Monday, the Bobigny public prosecutor’s office communicated on the case, explaining that a judicial investigation was opened on March 29 by “aiming for the highest possible qualification at this stage of the investigations: intentional violence in a meeting having led to death without intention to give it.” The anti-Semitic character has not, for the moment, been retained. And the perpetrators of the attack have not been found.
#JeremyCohen : While social networks and several presidential candidates are on fire regarding the death of Jérémy Cohen, the Bobigny prosecutor’s office has just communicated information on the investigation. pic.twitter.com/GGWf8zMFrz
– Vincent Vantighem (@vvantighem) April 4, 2022
And the polls?
One week before the first round, two candidates broke away. Emmanuel Macron is in the lead with 27.7% of voting intentions, according to our poll average. Behind, Marine Le Pen is credited with 20.9% of the vote. She made the hole with Jean-Luc Mélenchon (15.1%) who still hopes for a qualification in the second round through a mouse hole.
For Éric Zemmour and Valérie Pécresse, the challenge will be above all to achieve an honorable score to weigh in on the recomposition of the right. On the left, Yannick Jadot seems far from qualifying. A score above 5% would, however, ensure the reimbursement of his campaign expenses. For the candidates, the challenge for the next few days, when abstention looks set to be record on Sunday (around 30%), will be to mobilize their camp in order to obtain a better score than that predicted by the polls.
