Macron announces he will run for second term, opponents ready for debate
French President Emmanuel Macron says he will seek a second term in office at elections next month. The announcement has been repeatedly delayed because of the crisis in eastern Europe that has seen Macron take a prominent role in diplomatic talks. Meanwhile, his rivals are clamouring for a debate on issues closer to home.
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Macron announced his attempt to become the first French president to be re-elected in 20 years in a letter to the French people published online by numerous news sites.
It comes just 24 hours before a deadline for candidates to finalise their intentions to run.
He vowed to work to strengthen France and Europe in the face of an "accumulation of crises".
"I'm a candidate to invent, with you, and faced with the challenges of this century, a singular French and European response."
"I am a candidate to defend our values that are threatened by the disruptions of the world," the 44-year-old wrote.
Macron acknowledged that the election would not be a normal one due to Russia's war on Ukraine.
His first major rally set for 5 March has been cancelled.
"Of course, I will not be able to campaign as I would have liked because of the context," he said, while vowing to "explain our project with clarity and commitment".
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) March 4, 2022
Ahead of Friday's deadline for candidates to stand, polls widely show him as the frontrunner in the two-round election on 10 and 24 April, with the war focusing attention on foreign policy rather than the domestic issues favoured by his opponents.
"In a crisis, citizens always get behind the flag and line up behind the head of state," said Antoine Bristielle, a public opinion expert at the Jean-Jaures Foundation, a Paris think-tank.
Voter surveys currently tip the centrist to win the first round of the election with 26 percent and then triumph in the April 24 run-off irrespective of his opponent.
Rocky mandate
Macron has seen five tumultuous years in office, with the anti-government Yellow Vest protests, Covid-19 pandemic and now the crisis in eastern Europe.
"I'm not made to lead in calm weather," he once told author Emmanuel Carriere during a tour of the hurricane-hit French Caribbean island of Saint Martin in 2017. "My predecessor was, but I'm made for storms."
A recent Harris Interactive group showed 58 percent of French people held a favourable view of his handling of the Ukraine crisis.
Macron's biggest challenge comes from opponents on his right who accuse him of being lax on immigration, soft on crime and slow to defend French culture.
These include the conservative Valerie Pecresse from the Republicans party, far-right candidate Marine Le Pen and anti-Islam media pundit Eric Zemmour.
Call for debate
On the left, four mainstream candidates are competing, which is expected to split the vote and lead to all of them being eliminated in the first round.
Socialist Party candidate Anne Hidalgo said the announcement was "not a surprise."
"The democratic debate, of one programme versus another that I have been calling for for months, can finally take place," she said in a statement.
Striking a note of humility, Macron added in his letter that "we have not got everything right".
"There are choices that after the experience I gained with you I would have no doubt made differently," he said.
A recent poll by the Elabe group, published March 1, showed that confidence in Macron's "ability to tackle the main problems of the country" was up a massive five points in a month.
Allies of the president are quietly confident, but analysts warn many voters remain undecided and that sentiment can swing sharply in the final weeks of campaigning.
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