Macron leads field of 11 candidates in French election
PARIS: Eleven candidates got the go-ahead on Saturday to run in France’s presidential election in a vote that independent centrist Emmanuel Macron remains favorite to win.
French voters go the polls on April 23 and May 7 in the two-round election, which is being closely followed outside France as another test of popular discontent with traditional parties and institutions like the European Union.
The campaign has been highly unpredictable, dominated by a fraud investigation into conservative Francois Fillon, which has cost him his place as election front-runner. French voters will have a choice of 11 candidates after the country’s Constitutional Council announced the list of contenders that had met conditions to stand.
In addition to leading candidates Macron, Fillon and far-right leader Marine Le Pen, the list included three candidates who passed the threshold of 500 elected officials just in time: Jacques Cheminade and Philippe Poutou of small far-left parties and centrist lawmaker Jean Lasalle.
The expiry of the deadline would put paid to any further attempts by members of the conservative Republicans party to seek an alternative candidate to Fillon, who is being investigated on suspicion of misusing public funds to pay his wife and children and over a gift of expensive suits.
A BVA poll for Orange released on Saturday showed Macron was best placed to win. He was second in first-round voting intentions, a point behind the National Front’s Le Pen who had 26%, but would win a run-off against his far-right opponent 62-38, according to the survey. Fillon has slipped to third in the polls, recording 19.5% in the BVA survey, suggesting he would fail to reach the run-off.
Benoit Hamon, the ruling Socialist party’s candidate, ranked fourth with 12.5%, the poll showed, only slightly ahead of radical left-wing contender Jean-Luc Melenchon.
Several thousand supporters cheered Melenchon on Saturday at a central Paris rally billed as a show of force after he spurned Hamon’s overtures to join him.
French voters go the polls on April 23 and May 7 in the two-round election, which is being closely followed outside France as another test of popular discontent with traditional parties and institutions like the European Union.
The campaign has been highly unpredictable, dominated by a fraud investigation into conservative Francois Fillon, which has cost him his place as election front-runner. French voters will have a choice of 11 candidates after the country’s Constitutional Council announced the list of contenders that had met conditions to stand.
In addition to leading candidates Macron, Fillon and far-right leader Marine Le Pen, the list included three candidates who passed the threshold of 500 elected officials just in time: Jacques Cheminade and Philippe Poutou of small far-left parties and centrist lawmaker Jean Lasalle.
The expiry of the deadline would put paid to any further attempts by members of the conservative Republicans party to seek an alternative candidate to Fillon, who is being investigated on suspicion of misusing public funds to pay his wife and children and over a gift of expensive suits.
A BVA poll for Orange released on Saturday showed Macron was best placed to win. He was second in first-round voting intentions, a point behind the National Front’s Le Pen who had 26%, but would win a run-off against his far-right opponent 62-38, according to the survey. Fillon has slipped to third in the polls, recording 19.5% in the BVA survey, suggesting he would fail to reach the run-off.
Benoit Hamon, the ruling Socialist party’s candidate, ranked fourth with 12.5%, the poll showed, only slightly ahead of radical left-wing contender Jean-Luc Melenchon.
Several thousand supporters cheered Melenchon on Saturday at a central Paris rally billed as a show of force after he spurned Hamon’s overtures to join him.
