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LAST UPDATE | 24 Apr 2022
FRENCH VOTERS ARE heading to the polls for the presidential run-off between centrist incumbent Emmanuel Macron and his challenger Marine Le Pen, whose far-right party appears set to have its strongest election showing ever.
Macron went into the election with a stable lead in opinion polls, an advantage he consolidated in the frenetic final days of campaigning, including a no-holds-barred performance in the pre-election debate.
But analysts have cautioned that Macron, who rose to power in 2017 aged 39 as the country’s youngest-ever modern leader, can take nothing for granted given forecasts of low turnout that could sway the result in either direction.
The second round run-off is a repeat of the clash between Le Pen and Macron in 2017 when the centrist won 66 percent of the vote. But the margins are seen as being far narrower this time, with polls projecting a victory for Macron by around 10 percentage points.
At 5pm local time, voter participation stood at 63.2 percent, more than two percentage points lower than at the same time five years ago, when Macron handily beat Le Pen in their first face-off.
On the basis of that figure, polling firms estimated that the abstention rate was on course for 28 percent which, if confirmed, would be the highest in any French presidential run-off since 1969.
Le Pen beamed as she greeted supporters before casting her ballot in the northern town of Henin-Beaumont, a stronghold of her National Rally party.
Macron, meanwhile, worked a crowd of several hundreds before voting with his wife Brigitte in the Channel resort town of Le Touquet, where they own a holiday home.
Voting stations will close at 8pm (7pm Irish time), when polling firms will begin publishing preliminary results based on partial counts that usually predict the final result with a high degree of accuracy.
Macron in particular is hoping that left-wing voters who backed other candidates in the first round will support the former investment banker and his pro-business, reformist agenda to stop Le Pen and her populist programme.
But far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, who scored a close third-place finish in the first round, has pointedly refused to urge his millions of followers to back Macron while insisting they should not vote for Le Pen.
Macron himself repeatedly said that the complacency of stay-at-home voters precipitated the shocks of the 2016 elections that led to Brexit in Britain and Donald Trump’s election in the United States.
One factor for the likely high abstention rate is that elections are being held during the Easter school break in much of France.
According to Martial Foucault, director of the CEVIPOF political studies centre, a high abstention rate will narrow the gap between Macron and Le Pen, describing this as a “real risk” for the president.
The stakes are huge for both France and Europe, with Macron pledging reform and tighter EU integration while Le Pen, who would be France’s first female president, insists the bloc should be modified in what opponents describe as “Frexit” by another name.
Macron has also opposed Le Pen’s plan to make it illegal to wear the Muslim headscarf in public, though her team has walked back on the proposal ahead of the vote, saying it was no longer a “priority”.
They have also clashed on Russia, with Macron seeking to portray Le Pen as incapable of dealing with the invasion of Ukraine due to a loan her party took from a Russian-Czech bank.
Macron would be the first French president to win re-election in two decades since Jacques Chirac in 2002.
If he does, he is expected to address supporters on the Champ de Mars in central Paris at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.
I love how online news outlets try to spin this as a decision taken because she is Chelsea Manning, when you actually read the article she was refused due to having a criminal record and not meeting the minimum criteria set out in their migration act.
@John Judd: I think it’s a little more nuanced than that.
@John Judd: I think you’ll find that’s nonsense, many celebrities have had no difficulty entering Australia despite having criminal convictions, this can obviously be overlooked when convenient. And of course, also used by the Australian authorities when convenient.
@John Judd: That’s funny considering they’re mostly descended from ex prisoners themselves.
@Ivan Connolly: yes it is more nuanced. He committed treason against the US.
@nick_d: use the correct pronoun !
@John Judd: I apologise for my mistake, I didn’t realise you are the grammar police
A lot of governments don’t like facts being out in the open including Ireland
@Genius 80s+:It’s unclear if they’re afraid of the ideas she may put forward or LGBT issues, both arguments are equally ridiculous.
@Genius 80s+: ….especially Ireland!
Australia don’t respect the aboriginals. so what would you expect?
@Sean Conway:
And some of the worst offenders when it comes to abuse of Australian aboriginals were our own early exports.
@Walt Jabsco: that’s the intention when you round up criminals to start a colony
I’m guessing the USA had a hand in influencing Australia to deny her visa. They don’t want her going abroad speaking up if they can help it.
@Clear And Graphic: criminal record = no visa. Standard
@Ronan Gallagher: Except… if that were true then half the worlds celebrities, rappers, movie stars etc. wouldn’t be allowed to enter Australia. Everyone from Paul McCartney to Will Smith would be barred, and clearly that just doesn’t happen, or at least very selectively.
@Cú Chulainn: the crimes he committed are very serious though. National security
@Ronan Gallagher:
Crimes ‘she’ committed.
And not really, it was a public service. Celebs with domestic assault, rape and drugs charges are allowed in to perform or film, why single her out?
@Ronan Gallagher: That’s somewhat subjective. While some in the American intelligence community may consider people like Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden among the worst criminals possible, others, myself included, consider that they risked their lives to reveal a this dreadful invasion of privacy upon us all. For years much of it was suspected and those who put it into words were often accused of being cooks, conspiracy theorists, madmen. It turns out they were not only right but it went much further than even they suspected.
@Cú Chulainn: risk their life or risk the country and its citizens lives?
Funny ol’ world we live in. She’s convicted of the crime of leaking data including the horrific Collateral Murder video. While the events in that video with soldiers killing unarmed people from an attack helicopter are labelled “possible crimes”.
Wow the journal won’t let the aldi article have any comments?
@Jonathan Byrne: Lidl?
Chris Brown, Floyd Mayweather Jr, Julien Blanc, Snoop Dogg, David Irving, Tyler The Creator, Jeff Allen,all denied visas by Australia. Can’t fault a country for sticking by its rules.
Wow. She’s hot…
@Shanley Mac: and I thought the new lgbgt gti Ireland was tolerant,or is this just to try and discredit from what the story is about
@Genius 80s+: Ireland is not LGBT tolerant. Prejudice is rife. I am a huge fan of Chelsea Manning. She’s the bravest of the brave, risking death by firing squad in order to tell the truth of crimes perpetuated by the surveillance and warring community in the U.S. Her gender and lifestyle choices are of no consequence to me nor should they be. She did her work. She served her debt to that society. And now she should be allowed to tell her story in full.
@Genius 80s+: if you’re born a man, you’re a man. Saying you think otherwise doesn’t change your chromosomes
So where not gonna focus on the illagility reasons then
@Jonathan Byrne:
What’s “Illagility”? Is it when you’re clumsy?
@Walt Jabsco: what is it doctor? …It’s your agility..It’s ill, you have illiagility, there’s no cure! €60
@BarronVonVaderHam: if only my withisism was a strong as yours, without the need for punctuality. . ( I sure hope I spelt that right, for the message to have meaning)
Is the irony of Australia not allowing a criminal in lost on everyone
@scwazrh: There’s no criminals in van diemans land.
Imagine if Australia had let Manning in , no questions asked. This would leave them open to abuse and ridicule from those who had been denied entry. To be fair on the Aussie’s. This is the only decision to take. Having said that, there is an excellent chance that Manning will be granted entry anyway.
Why are these events booked before the speaker has a visa? Get the visa first then book venues. Maybe that’s a reason why immi departments don’t like some of these speakers, they automatically assume they’ll get a visa.
HE was in prison for treason which is a little bit worse than being a bad actor or singer. Good for Australia to actually enforce their rules.
Of course Australia will ban her, once a colony always a colony
@Austin Rock: you’re such an educated guy Austin. Ever even been to Aus? You small minded Twit.
Whatever. She is a traitor to her country and her comrades.
@Ros Aodha: A Traitor No..convicted of reporting the murder of civilians in a totally unnecessary war. The Traitors are those who lied in convincing nations that the war was nessecery.
@Donal Desmond:
No, convicted of releasing over 700 classified documents, whilst admitting that she had absolutely no idea of what the vast majority of them contained.
Manning was not a whistleblower. He – he was a he at the time – simply released every document his security clearance allowed him access to for reasons known unto himself at the time, but appear to have been personal rather than political. He could not possibly have analysed more than a tiny fraction of the 700,000 documents he wantonly disclosed.
Then, as a she, she got the luckiest of breaks. It was the time of the foment over transgender toilet use – one of the few issues Obama issued an executive order over. It happened to be a subject that was in the public eye. If Bradley had not declared he was now Chelsea, he would still be in jail.
Dirty American fingers all over this. Suppressing truth just like the commies.
Wouldn’t expect anything less from the up their own arse Aussies
@Lambo Moonski: what up mate, some Aussie Chick dump you and now your bitter against the country! Dumb @ss
@Joe Kelly: You some kind of internet Aussie minder?
@Lambo Moonski: No, I’m just pointing out your Ignorance!
Is it because he is a transistor that prompted the refusal. I though transistors would get good reception down under.? Now even the Ausie’s are getting boring.?
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