Macron makes last-minute appeal to dispirited left as Le Pen surges

In the final days of campaigning before Sunday’s first round of the French election, President Emmanuel Macron is making a sudden swerve to the left to mobilise voters who used to vote for the Socialists and who he fears could stay home on voting day.

 

Macron, who has spent the past five years wooing the centre-right after demolishing the Socialist party and attracting most of its voters in 2017, is suddenly correcting course, as opinion polls show record abstention could help far-right candidate Marine Le Pen win.

 

Macron accused Le Pen of lying to voters about her campaign platform as he sought to rally support two days before the presidential election’s first round.

 

Macron, whose re-election seemed a foregone conclusion just weeks ago, is now facing a stiff challenge from Le Pen. “Her fundamentals have not changed: It’s a racist programme that aims to divide society and is very brutal,” Macron told Le Parisien newspaper. “There was a clear strategy (from Le Pen’s camp) to hide what is brutal in her programme.”

 

Macron promised to extend costly measures to shield voters from rising electricity and petrol prices, and said that when companies pay dividends, they should be forced to share some of the profits with employees.

 

He denied he veered too much to the right during his first mandate, which saw him cut taxes on the rich and reduce housing allowances.