PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron and his far-right challenger traded barbs on Monday as they began a final fortnight of campaigning ahead of a run-off vote set to be much closer than their 2017 contest.
After a first round of voting on Sunday, Macron came top with 27.85 percent, while far-right leader Marine 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 Le Pen strongholds.
“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 Ms Le Pen,” Macron told a scrum of journalists who followed him in Denain.
“I realize 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.
Macron later said he was prepared to raise the state pension age from 62 to 64 — rather than 65 as his campaign program pledged — to avoid “too many tensions” and “build a consensus.”
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 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.
But one poll by the Ifop-Fiducial group suggested Macron could have only a razor-thin win with 51 percent versus 49 percent.
While 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.
Both candidates will now scramble to woo voters of their defeated first-round rivals.
“We’re going to have to win over the French people who didn’t vote for Emmanuel Macron in the first round,” government spokesman Gabriel Attal told the France Inter broadcaster on Monday.
In an early boost for the president, Communist Party candidate Fabien Roussel, Socialist Anne Hidalgo, Yannick Jadot of the Greens and right-wing Republicans candidate Valerie Pecresse said they would vote for him to prevent the far-right leader coming to power.
Melenchon told his supporters not to give a “single vote” to Le Pen, but he stopped short of backing Macron directly.
“If Macron wants to convince our voters, he’s going have to work for it,” said Melenchon’s campaign director, Manuel Bompard.
Meanwhile Le Pen’s far-right rival Eric Zemmour, who garnered just over seven percent on Sunday, threw his weight behind her.
A pivotal moment in the next stage of the campaign will come on April 20 when the two candidates take part in a live TV debate, just like five years ago when a better-prepared Macron won the day.
But this time will be different, said political scientist Brice Teinturier.
Macron, he said, “is no longer the new candidate representing a kind of freshness” while Le Pen “is no longer the person people automatically reject.”
Macron is expected to target her past admiration for Russian leader Vladimir Putin, an explosive issue during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Marine Le Pen is the candidate for depending on Russia,” Macron told the Voix du Nord.
The candidates from France’s traditional parties of government — the Socialists and the Republicans — suffered humiliating defeats.
Sunday’s vote spelled disaster for Hidalgo, the Socialist mayor of Paris, who won only 1.75 percent, a historic low for the party.
The vote for Pecresse’s Republicans collapsed to 4.78 percent from 20 percent in 2017.
On Monday, Pecresse admitted her campaign finances, which included five million euros ($5.5 million) of her own money, were in a “critical” state, and called for donations from supporters.
Public campaign spending reimbursements are drastically reduced for candidates who fail to reach five percent.
Abstention on Sunday hit 26 percent, a sharp increase from the first round in 2017.
France’s Macron, Le Pen trade barbs ahead of run-off
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France’s Macron, Le Pen trade barbs ahead of run-off
Russia takes new village in Ukraine’s Donetsk region
- Russian troops advance toward the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region
- Russia’s defense ministry say troops had captured the village of Myrne
Moscow’s offensive on Ukraine has lasted for more than three years, with attacks intensifying this summer and US-led negotiations so far yielding no results to end the fighting.
Russia’s defense ministry said Russian troops had captured the village of Myrne, calling the village by its Soviet name “Karl Marx.”
It lies close to the administrative border between the Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
The ministry claimed forces had moved “deep into the enemy’s defense” to take the village.
Myrne was one of two villages Moscow claimed on Sunday.
Russia has for months refused a ceasefire proposed by the United States and Kyiv.
Moscow launched its full-scale offensive against Ukraine in February 2022.
France says Australia defense ties repaired after submarine row
- Paris expressed its “strong regrets” when Australia tore up a multibillion-dollar deal to buy a fleet of diesel-powered submarines from France
SYDNEY: France’s defense relations with Australia have recovered after their 2021 bust-up over a major submarine contract, the country’s ambassador said Sunday.
Paris expressed its “strong regrets” when Australia tore up a multibillion-dollar deal to buy a fleet of diesel-powered submarines from France, Ambassador Pierre-Andre Imbert said.
Since the 2022 election of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, however, the defense relationship had been “restarted,” he said.
“Now, the first pillar of our cooperation is defense and security, so we have a very good level of cooperation,” the ambassador told AFP as French forces joined major military drills around Australia.
When Australia ditched the French deal, it opted instead to acquire nuclear-powered vessels in a new three-way AUKUS pact with the United States and Britain.
But a US defense official last month revealed that a review of AUKUS was underway to ensure it “aligned with the President’s America First agenda” and that the US defense industrial base was “meeting our needs.”
Under the AUKUS deal, Australia would acquire at least three Virginia class submarines from the United States within 15 years, eventually manufacturing its own subs.
The US Navy has 24 Virginia-class vessels but American shipyards are struggling to meet production targets set at two new boats each year.
Asked if France would ever consider discussing a new submarine deal with Australia if the AUKUS agreement was torpedoed by the review, the French ambassador said he was reluctant to speculate.
“I would say it’s more an issue for Australia for the moment. And of course, we are always discussing with our friends of Australia,” he said.
“But for the moment, they have chosen AUKUS,” he said. “If this changes (and) they ask, we’ll see.”
More than 30,000 military personnel from 19 nations are set to join the three-week, annual Talisman Sabre military exercises, which started Sunday across Australia and Papua New Guinea.
Australia PM Albanese kicks off China visit focused on trade
- Anthony Albanese is set to meet business, tourism and sport representatives in Shanghai and Chengdu
- Albanese wants to reduce Australia’s economic dependence on China, a free trade partner
BEIJING: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese kicked off a visit to China this weekend meant to shore up trade relations between the two countries.
Albanese met with Shanghai Party Secretary Chen Jining on Sunday, the first in a series of high-level exchanges that will include meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang and Chairman Zhao Leji of the National People’s Congress.
Albanese is leading “a very large business delegation” to China, which speaks to the importance of the economic relations between Australia and China, he told Chinese state broadcaster CGTN upon his arrival in Shanghai Saturday.
During a weeklong trip, Albanese is set to meet business, tourism and sport representatives in Shanghai and Chengdu including a CEO roundtable Tuesday in Beijing, his office said.
It is Albanese’s second visit to China since his center-left Labour Party government was first elected in 2022. The party was reelected in May with an increased majority.
Albanese has managed to persuade Beijing to remove a series of official and unofficial trade barriers introduced under the previous conservative government that cost Australian exporters more than 20 billion Australian dollars ($13 billion) a year.
Beijing severed communications with the previous administration over issues including Australia’s calls for an independent inquiry into the origins of and responses to COVID-19. But Albanese wants to reduce Australia’s economic dependence on China, a free trade partner.
“My government has worked very hard to diversify trade … and to increase our relationships with other countries in the region, including India and Indonesia and the ASEAN countries,” Albanese said before his visit, referring to the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
“But the relationship with China is an important one, as is our relationships when it comes to exports with the north Asian economies of South Korea and Japan,” he added.
Chinese state-run Xinhua News Agency, in an editorial Sunday, described China’s relationship with Australia as “steadily improving” and undergoing “fresh momentum.”
“There are no fundamental conflicts of interest between China and Australia,” the editorial stated. “By managing differences through mutual respect and focusing on shared interests, the two sides can achieve common prosperity and benefit.”
Apartment fire in Turkiye’s Ankara kills 3, including a baby
- The blaze started late Saturday night on the fourth floor and spread rapidly, according to local media
- Firefighters took four hours to extinguish the flames. The state-run Anadolu Agency reported that 39 suffered light smoke inhalation, including seven firefighters
Istanbul: A fire at a 26-story apartment building in the Turkish capital, Ankara, killed three people, including a three-and-a-half-month-old baby, local media said.
The blaze broke out at around 10:00 p.m. local time Saturday night on the fourth floor and quickly spread through the structure, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency. It took firefighters four hours to put out the fire.
The agency also reported that 39 suffered light smoke inhalation, including seven firefighters. Paramedics attended to 26 people on site, while 20 others have been hospitalized, one in critical condition.
Australia will not commit troops in advance to any conflict, minister says
- Defense industry minister Pat Conroy: Australia prioritizes its sovereignty and ‘we don’t discuss hypotheticals’
- A US defense official has been pushing Australian and Japanese counterparts on what they would do in a Taiwan conflict
SYDNEY: Australia will not commit troops in advance to any conflict, Defense Industry Minister Pat Conroy said on Sunday, responding to a report that the Pentagon has pressed its ally to clarify what role it would play if the US and China went to war over Taiwan.
Australia prioritizes its sovereignty and “we don’t discuss hypotheticals,” Conroy said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
“The decision to commit Australian troops to a conflict will be made by the government of the day, not in advance but by the government of the day,” he said.
The Financial Times reported on Saturday that Elbridge Colby, the US under-secretary of defense for policy, has been pushing Australian and Japanese defense officials on what they would do in a Taiwan conflict, although the US does not offer a blank cheque guarantee to defend Taiwan.
Colby posted on X that the Department of Defense is implementing President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda of restoring deterrence, which includes “urging allies to step up their defense spending and other efforts related to our collective defense.”
China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own and has not ruled out the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. Taiwan President Lai Ching-te rejects China’s sovereignty claims, saying only Taiwan’s people can decide their future.
Australia’s largest war-fighting exercise with the United States, involving 30,000 troops from 19 countries, opens on Sunday on Sydney Harbor.
Conroy said Australia was concerned about China’s military buildup of nuclear and conventional forces, and wants a balanced Indo-Pacific region where no country dominates.
“China is seeking to secure a military base in the region and we are working very hard to be the primary security partner of choice for the region because we don’t think that’s a particularly optimal thing for Australia,” he said, referring to the Pacific Islands.
Security is expected to be on the agenda when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese meets China’s leaders this week. He arrived in Shanghai on Saturday for a six-day visit.
The Talisman Sabre exercise will span 6,500 kilometers, from Australia’s Indian Ocean territory of Christmas Island to the Coral Sea on Australia’s east coast.
Conroy said it was possible China’s navy would be watching the exercise to collect information, as it had done in the past.
The United States is Australia’s major security ally. Although Australia does not permit foreign bases, the US military is expanding its rotational presence and fuel stores on Australian bases, which from 2027 will have US Virginia submarines at port in Western Australia.
These would play a key role in supporting US forces in any conflict over Taiwan, analysts say.
