Le Pen’s Marseille rally was met with protests as hundreds of people took to the streets to demonstrate against the presidential hopeful’s appearance in the city. “Macron wants reforms to pep up France’s economy and strengthen its position in Europe.”

A Macron win could also suggest that, after Britain’s decision to leave and the shock election of Donald Trump in the US, “the demise of liberalism, internationalism and the EU ... may not be inevitable,” Grant added. The 2017 presidential campaign in France has been full of surprises, from François Hollande’s decision not to run for a second term to former prime minister Manuel Valls getting defeated in the Socialist Party primary; from the rise of insider-outsider Emmanuel Macron to the standout debate performance by far-left candidate Philippe Poutou; from François Fillon’s rise, fall, and rise to Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s last-minute surge.
The closely-watched CEVIPOF poll shows Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen clinging to a narrow lead heading into the first stage of the election, with Le Pen recently becoming embroiled in a spat with the European Commission after refusing to appear on TF1 while there remained a Flag of Europe in the background.