'Uncertainty' of French voters remains high one month from presidential election - analyst

Record ID: 496916

  • Title: 'Uncertainty' of French voters remains high one month from presidential election - analyst
  • Date: 23rd March 2017
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (MARCH 22, 2017) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** (SOUNDBITE) (French) EXPERT IN FRENCH POLITICS AT SCIENCES PO UNIVERSITY, BRUNO CAUTRES, SAYING: "It's very tricky for the two left candidates Hamon and Melenchon to clearly separate. Few points, few policy points are separating the two, in particular what is about EU." COURBEVOIE, FRANCE (MA
  • Embargoed: 6th April 2017 12:32
  • Keywords: French presidential election uncertainty month Le Pen Fillon Hamon Macron Melenchon analyst
  • Location: PARIS, LYON, AUBERVILLIERS AND COURBEVOIE, FRANCE
  • City: PARIS, LYON, AUBERVILLIERS AND COURBEVOIE, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
  • Reuters ID: LVA00A696K47B
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: One month ahead of France's presidential elections, opposing candidates Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen appear close in the polls, though the independent presidential candidate saw his lead bolstered by news on Thursday (March 23) that two members of the government were deserting the official Socialist Party contender to back the 39-year-old centrist.
    Bruno Cautres a political expert at Science Po University in Paris told Reuters on Wednesday (March 22) that French voters still seemed quite undecided with their choice for president, as this could be the first time that the country's two main parties do not make it to the second round of the election.
    Macron, who has never held elected office, has gatecrashed the leadership contest with a pledge to transcend the long-established divide of Left-versus-Right politics with a programme for cross-partisan government.
    His position was confirmed by a Harris Interactive poll of more than 6,000 voters which showed Macron coming first in a first round of voting on April 23 and then trouncing the far-right's Le Pen in the two-way runoff on May 7.
    For now all opinion polls say Macron and Le Pen will go through to the second and final round.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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