The French President will probably have eleven competitors in the next election.
(Photo: Reuters)
Paris The candidates for the French presidential elections on April 10th and 24th have been determined. The Constitutional Council will announce the definitive list on Monday evening at 5 p.m., but most of it is already known.
Eleven candidates had already reached the threshold of 500 declarations of support from political officials on Thursday, only the left Philippe Poutou was still 61 votes short. On Friday, he said he had the votes together before the 6 p.m. deadline.
Incumbent Emmanuel Macron had enough supporters behind him for a long time and has a total of 1974 supporters, the conservative Valérie Pécresse received 2556. Some candidates who achieve good forecasts in citizen polls only just managed to secure support – including the right-wing extremist Éric Zemmour (721 ) and Marine Le Pen (603).
Socialist and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo got 1,387 votes, Green Yannick Jadot got 689. Leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon got 873 votes, while candidate Nathalie Arthaud, who was even further to the left, got 570.
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The right-wing candidates Nicolas Dupont-Aignan and Jean Lassalle received 582 and 620 votes, respectively, and the communist Fabien Roussel 619. All other candidates were still too many votes short of realistically exceeding the 500 threshold by Friday evening.
Ukraine war: Macron increases in election forecasts by three percent
An Ifop poll sees Macron at 29 percent in the first ballot, within a week he gained three percentage points, mainly due to his commitment to Ukraine. Far-right Marine Le Pen remains in second place with 17 percent. Your right-wing competitor Eric Zemmour achieved twelve percent – 3.5 percent less than a week ago. The conservative Valérie Pécresse is still at 14 percent. Leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon received 11.5 percent of the vote.
Before the voting deadline, there was a big debate in France on the subject. François Bayrou, president of the Mouvement démocrate party, which supported Emmanuel Macron in the 2017 election, rushed to Marine Le Pen’s aid. He gave her his vote to “save democracy”.
He had previously called for support for the candidates who come in over ten percent in the citizen polls and have difficulties registering their application because votes are still missing. Bayrou said he was against excluding important candidates.
Le Pen thanked Bayrou via Twitter: “Despite our political differences, his decision lets democracy live.” She called on the mayors of France to vote to support the candidates who are in trouble. But Bayrou made it clear: “Our signature does not mean support.” It is a purely democratic gesture.
Some of the candidates who were less well placed in the polls, such as Philippe Poutou, also benefited from the call for votes. With eleven to twelve candidates, the number of applicants is in the middle compared to previous elections. Eleven candidates competed in 2017 and ten in 2012. In 2007 there were 12 and the record was 16 in 2002.
More: Emmanuel Macron makes his candidacy for a second term official