France’s Macron to kick off re-election bid in March

By AFP 23 February 2022, 3:37 pm

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France's President Emmanuel Macron listens to his Lithuanian counterpart as they make a statement prior to their working lunch at the Elysee palace in Paris, on November 30, 2021 (Thomas Coex/AFP)

French President Emmanuel Macron will launch his re-election bid on March 5 at an inaugural campaign rally in Marseille, sources in his party say.

Macron has so far kept away from formal campaigning ahead of the April 10 first round, working around the clock in diplomatic efforts to avert a war caused by a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The declaration of his candidacy is now expected next week, just ahead of a March 4 deadline. Three sources in his centrist Republic on the Move (LREM) party told AFP on Wednesday his first rally would then be on March 5 in Marseille.

Polls have steadily indicated that Macron is likely to come out on top in the first round of voting on April 10.

Yet the polls also suggest that securing a second five-year term in the run-off vote two weeks later is far from a foregone conclusion, as the far-right has continued to make inroads in recent years.

The extreme-right vote is currently divided between two candidates, Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour, trailed by the conservative candidate Valerie Pecresse.

Analysts say low turnout — nearly one in four voters did not cast ballots in the 2017 contest — could add another layer of uncertainty to the first-round outcome.