France urged to reject Le Pen in presidential vote run off

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France urged to reject Le Pen in presidential vote run-off

(CNN)France's defeated political establishment has begun to rally against the far-right leader Marine Le Pen as she goes head-to-head against political novice Emmanuel Macron in the final race for the French presidency.

As Le Pen celebrated the highest-ever voting tally for her Front National party, candidates knocked out in the first round began to endorse Macron, who ended his insurgent campaign with a result that confounded expectations.

Macron, a pro-European centrist, took first place with 23.9%, while the anti-immigrant, anti-EU Le Pen came second at 21.4%, with 97% of polling stations declared on Monday. Both go through to a runoff on May 7 after emerging top of a fractured field of 11 candidates in the first round.

The result amounted to a comprehensive rejection of traditional politics in France. It is the first time since the establishment of the fifth French Republic in 1958 that no candidate from the two main political parties of the left and right has made it into the second round of the presidential vote.

Macron goes through to the second round as the clear frontrunner, with most voters expected to switch to him from mainstream defeated candidates. Le Pen, meanwhile, faces an uphill struggle.

The French stock markets rose on Monday morning, and the euro jumped to its highest level since November against the dollar as investors bet against the chances of Le Pen winning.

There was relief in Europe, too: Michel Barnier, the European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, described Macron as a patriot.

The chief of staff for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the result showed France and Europe could win together" and added: The center is stronger than the populists think.

Francois Fillon, the mainstream Republican candidate whose campaign foundered amid corruption allegations, emerged swiftly from his defeat with words of support for Macron.

I promise you, extremism can only bring unhappiness and division to France, he said, describing the National Front as a party of violence and intolerance.

We have to choose what is preferable for our country, and I am not going to rejoice. Abstention is not in my genes, especially when an extremist party is close to power," he said. There is no other choice but to vote against the far right.

He argued that Le Pen's economic and social programs would bankrupt the country, particularly if France dropped the euro as its currency, as the far-right leader has threatened.

The Socialist Party's candidate, Benoit Hamon, also warned against a Le Pen victory. I appeal to you in the strongest terms to beat the National Front by voting for Emmanuel Macron, even though he is not part of the Left, Hamon wrote on Twitter.

Hamon secured just 6.4% of the vote, a disastrous showing for the Socialist Party, whose candidate Francois Hollande won the presidency in 2012 but whose popularity has sunk during his term.

French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve tweeted his support for Macron, calling on voters to back him in the second round to combat the National Front's disastrous project to take France backward and to divide the French people.

But far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon has refused to say who he would back, criticizing both candidates for having no stance on the environment or the future of civilization, and who both challenge the welfare and social accord of the country.

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http://edition.cnn.com/2017/04/24/europe/french-presidential-election/index.html

France votes in presidential election after volatile campaign

Breaking News: France votes in presidential election after the volatile campaign.

Voters leave their booths in the 7th district in Paris on Sunday to cast their ballots.

Story highlights:

• The final days of campaigning were shaken by an attack on police in Paris.
• CNN News:

Paris (CNN)French citizens are voting for their next President on Sunday following a volatile campaign period that was overshadowed by a terror attack on police in Paris last week.

With 11 names on the ballot, no one candidate is expected to win an outright majority. Only four leading contenders are seen as having a realistic prospect of making it through to the second-round vote in May.

The frontrunners are far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen, scandal-hit conservative François Fillon, centrist newcomer Emmanuel Macron and far-left wildcard Jean-Luc Mélenchon. The top two in Sunday's vote will face off on May 7 for the second and final round of voting.

The beginner's guide to the French elections

Some 47 million people are registered to vote, and latest polls suggest the results are too close to call. That means France could end up with a choice between candidates from the far-left and far-right, or a far-right stalwart facing off against a political novice. With such a fractured field, no one is expected to win a majority in Sunday's first round.

Benoit Hamon is the mainstream left-wing Socialist Party nominee but polls suggest he has struggled to gain traction.

Soldiers guard the Eiffel Tower area in Paris on Sunday as security is stepped up for the presidential vote.

Security, immigration major issues

Polls opened at 8 a.m. local time (2 a.m. ET) Sunday across the country, and by midday, around 30% of voters had cast their ballots. Initial results expected in the evening.
Security has been stepped up for the vote, taking place at 70,000 polling stations. Extra police have been deployed to the streets of Paris and elsewhere.

French President Francois Hollande cast his vote in Tulle in southwestern France. Hollande has been so unpopular in his presidency, he made the unusual decision not to run for a second term.

France suffered the worst terror attack on its soil under Hollande's watch, with 130 people killed in the Paris attacks in November 2015.

It's not yet clear how the vote will be affected by the attack Thursday on the landmark Champs Elysees boulevard in Paris, in which a policeman was killed.

But it was certainly in the minds of the candidates, including Hollande, who acknowledged France was experiencing troubled times.

"We are in a period, but this period is neither recent nor over, so we have to mobilize a lot of resources, in particular for the two days of a vote for the presidential election and then the legislatives. And for the French I think it is the best message they can send, it's to show that democracy is stronger than anything."

Security has inevitably been an issue in campaigning, as have immigration and the economy. Many voters think current immigration policies have exacerbated France's unemployment problems and contributed to the deadly terror attacks of the past couple of years.

The main candidates canceled campaign events Friday -- the last day of campaigning -- and instead made televised statements in which they competed to talk tough on security and vowed a crackdown on ISIS, which claimed the attack.

Details:
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/04/23/europe/french-presidential-election-vote/index.html