French President, Emmanuel Macron, is expected to launch his re-election bid on March 5, 2022, at an inaugural campaign rally in Marseille.
Sources in Mr. Macron’s party made this known on Wednesday, February 23, 2022.
Macron has for a while, been away from formal campaigning ahead of France’s April 10, 2022, first-round election. The French President is working round-the-clock in diplomatic efforts to avert a looming war to be caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The declaration of his candidacy is now expected just ahead of a deadline, pegged on March 4, 2022. According to three sources in his centrist Republic on the Move (LREM) party, his first rally would be on March 5, 2022, in Marseille.
Polls have steadily indicated that Macron is likely to come out on top in the first round of voting on April 10, 2022. However, the polls also suggested 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 an impact in recent years.
The extreme-right vote is currently divided between two candidates, Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour, with lagging behind a conservative candidate, Valerie Pecresse.
Analysts noted, nearly one in four voters who did not cast ballots in the 2017 contest, could add another layer of uncertainty to the upcoming first-round outcome.
Macron, a former investment banker and economy minister under Socialist President, Francois Hollande, gained power as an outsider candidate of “neither the left nor the right.” This was because he promised wide-ranging reforms to shake up the French economy.
Upon assuming office, he moved quickly to cut taxes and loosen labour laws in a bid to fuel growth. He pushed through an overhaul of the state-owned railway SNCF (a global leader in passenger mobility and freight logistics) despite fierce resistance from labour unions.
He also drew rage for policies, believed to favour the wealthy, and a fuel tax increase that impacted rural and small towns in France. Particularly, it sparked the fiery “yellow vest” protests in 2018 and 2019, forcing Macron to make a series of concessions for low-income households.
Another Five More Years?
Macron’s rivals have accused him of restricting debate by refusing to officially declare his candidacy until the last minute, with his team indicating he is unlikely to participate in a debate ahead of the first round.
The rivals also disclosed the President has instead, projected an image of a being busy with global affairs. They accused him of his failure to prevent Vladimir Putin from sending Russian troops into breakaway Ukraine enclaves, which could open him to attacks of political naivete (lack of experience) or miscalculation.
But analysts, on the other hand averred, Macron might also get credit for trying against the odds to avert a conflict, bolstering his credentials as an appreciated statesman on the international stage.
Other Contenders
An Elabe poll released on Wednesday, February 23, 2022, puts him at 24.5 percent of intentions to vote in the first round, followed by 18 percent for Marine Le Pen, the veteran far-right leader who lost out to Macron in the second round five years ago.
Media pundit, Éric Zemmour, was at 13.5 percent, while Valerie Pecresse, slipped to fourth place with 11.5 percent after a Paris campaign rally this month that was widely criticized as both over formal and presenting fears over immigration.
On the left, the biggest threat appears to come from Jean-Luc Melenchon, with 11 percent, and the rest of the field sharply divided and struggling to gain traction.
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