Macron vs Le Pen: France votes in tense presidential runoff

France voters turned out Sunday for a presidential runoff election that has wide repercussions for Europe’s future, with President Emmanuel Macron considered the front-runner but fighting a tough challenge from far-right rival Marine Le Pen.

The centrist Macron is asking voters to trust him for a second five-year term despite a presidency that was troubled by protests, the pandemic and Russia’s war on Ukraine. A Macron victory in this vote would make him the first French president in 20 years to win a second term.

The result Sunday in France, a nuclear-armed nation with one of the world’s biggest economies, could also impact the war in Ukraine, as France has played a key role in diplomatic efforts and firmly backed sanctions against Russia for its invasion of its neighbor.

All recent opinion polls converge toward a win for the 44-year-old pro-European Macron — yet the margin over his 53-year-old far-right rival varies broadly. Polls also forecast a possibly record-high number of people who will either cast a blank vote or not vote at all.

Le Pen’s support in France’s electorate has grown during this campaign to her highest level ever, and much will depend Sunday on how many people turn out to vote. Participation was 26.1% at midday, slightly higher than in the first-round vote on April 10.

Many of those expected to choose Macron are doing so mainly to keep out Le Pen, whose platform is seen as extreme and anti-democratic, such as her plan to ban the Muslim headscarf in public. Macron has questioned her party’s ties to Russia.

“I am serene,” Le Pen said as she voted in the northern town of Henin-Beaumont and took selfies with fans. “I have confidence in the French.”

Macron, meanwhile, greeted crowds with handshakes and embraces in the English Channel coastal town of Le Touquet.

Both candidates are trying to court the 7.7 million supporters of leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon, who was among the 10 other presidential candidates eliminated in the first round of voting on April 10.

For many who voted for left-wing candidates in the first round, the runoff presents an unpalatable choice between Le Pen, a far-right, anti-immigrant nationalist, and Macron, a leader who some feel has veered to the right during his first term. The outcome could depend on whether left-wing voters back Macron or abstain from voting, leaving him to fend for himself against Le Pen.

Voting west of Paris in the suburb of Le Pecq, Stephanie David cast her ballot for Macron “without much joy.” She had voted for the Communist Party candidate in round one.

“It was the least worst choice,” said the transport worker, who added that Le Pen was anathema to her. “Even if she tries to soften her rhetoric, I can’t stomach it.”

Retiree Jean-Pierre Roux voted to keep out Le Pen’s extreme-right father, Jean-Marie, in France’s 2002 presidential runoff and voted against his daughter in 2017. But Roux could not bring himself to vote for Macron again this time, saying he was too arrogant. Roux put an empty envelope in the voting box.

“I am not against his ideas but I cannot stand the person,” he said.

Le Pen, once considered a climate-change skeptic, wants to scrap subsidies for renewable energies. She has vowed to dismantle wind farms and invest in nuclear and hydro energy.