PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron may be ahead in the presidential race so far, but he warned his supporters that "nothing is done" and his runoff battle with far-right challenger Marine Le Pen will be a hard fight. And she's ready for it.
The duel starts Monday, after the two came out on top in Sunday's first-round vote. The centrist Macron is heading to an economically depressed area of northern France where a majority of voters chose Le Pen, close to her electoral stronghold of Henin-Beaumont.
Meanwhile, Le Pen's National Rally officials will meet Monday to plan strategy for the second round, scheduled on April 24. Le Pen summed up the standoff by saying voters are faced with "a fundamental choice between two opposing visions of the future."
Macron already faced Le Pen in the presidential runoff five years ago. But all opinion polls show the leader of the National Rally is much closer this time to a potential win.
Macron said he wants to court those who voted for the "extremes" or opted to stay at home. That's what he sought to do in the northern town of Denain Monday by campaigning on his rival's home ground. Le Pen garnered over 41% of votes there, as opposed to 14% for Marcon.
Macron met with area residents, many of whom criticized his proposed pension changes, which include raising the minimum retirement age from 62 to 65.
Denain's mayor, Anne-Lise Dufour-Tonini, told reporters she will vote for Macron "with no hesitation" in the second round, but intends to push for him to adopt more "leftist proposals."
LePen's effort to rebrand herself may pay off
On her third attempt to become France's first female president, Le Pen was rewarded Sunday for her years-long effort to rebrand herself as more pragmatic and less extreme. Macron has accused Le Pen of pushing a dangerous manifesto of racist, ruinous policies. Le Pen wants to roll back some rights for Muslims, banning them from wearing headscarves in public, and to drastically reduce immigration from outside Europ.
In his speech on Sunday evening, Macron said his project would protect all religions and the freedom "to believe, or not."
The rise of food and energy prices is at the core of Le Pen's campaign, but Macron's team argue she wouldn't have the financial means to meet her promises.
"Our focus is now on the project and the values," Senator Francois Patriat, a member of Macron's party, said. The strategy consists in being "proud" of what has been done over the past five years, showing "a bit of humility," and "above all, some fighting spirit," he said.
Macron will use the next days to "go in the field," he said. Prior to Sunday's first round, Macron was absent from most of the electoral campaign as he spent most of his time focusing on diplomatic efforts over the war in Ukrain.