French President Emmanuel Macron called on tens of thousands of cheering but increasingly nervous supporters to help him win the “battle between progress and turning back” at his first election campaign rally just a week before the first round of the 2022 presidential election.
According to polls, far-right rival Marine Le Pen is gathering momentum and threatening what once seemed an almost unassailable position of strength for Macron, a pro-business centrist elected in 2017.
“The mobilisation is now, the battle is now!” Macron concluded a two-and-a-half hour speech at a stadium west of Paris. “It’s a battle between progress and turning back, a battle between patriotism and Europe, and nationalism.”
The 44-year-old drew an estimated 30,000 people for a gathering styled on sports events that saw Macron enter the room to pumping music and fireworks before taking to a stage set up like a boxing ring in the middle of the floor.
Macron started his speech with a long list of accomplishments and promises to create jobs in hospitals and nursing homes, in a clear attempt to convince centre-left voters that pollsters say could abstain.
“Our lives, their lives, are worth more than profits,” he told the crowd, stealing a well-known anti-capitalist slogan.
In a bid to galvanise his supporters as well as undecided voters, Macron warned of the risk of a Brexit-style upset as polls showed the race between the incumbent and Le Pen tightening for the crucial April 24 runoff.
“Look at what happened with Brexit, and so many other elections: what looked improbable actually happened,” Macron told the crowd of flag-waving supporters. “Nothing is impossible,” he warned.
“The danger of extremism has reached new heights because, in recent months and years, hatred, alternative truths have been normalised,” he said. “We have got used to see on TV shows antisemitic and racist authors.”
Distracted by the war in…
Source : france24
