against the backdrop of russia's war in
ukraine france has a pivotal
presidential election and while the
voting process will be the same as in
the past the conflict is reshaping how
candidates are running with incumbent
president emmanuel macron barely
campaigning and has far-right
challengers shifting their positions on
russia and immigration
the first round of voting will take
place on april 10th with the final two
candidates moving on to the second and
final round of voting on april 24th
out of 12 candidates five could
potentially make it to the final round
the country's current centrist president
emmanuel macron has the best chances of
winning
he founded his own party and is known to
lean to the right but still promotes
some traditionally left-leaning ideas
like the need to combat climate change
then there are the far-right candidates
marine le pen is trailing macau in
second place she lost to macron in 2017
and this time she also faces competition
from another far-right candidate eric
simore some see him as even more extreme
than le pen
both candidates want to restrict
immigration and are focusing on identity
politics to rally supporters but in the
wake of the ukraine crisis both have
faced uncomfortable questions about
their past comments in favor of putin
and their anti-migration remarks most
french are in favor of taking in
ukrainians
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represents france's traditional center
right party but her speeches have at
times edged toward the populist far
right fringes even though she says she
opposes extremist ideology today we have
a france that's experiencing a serious
crisis of authority we have real
problems related to controlling our
borders in law and order in the streets
in schools the left-wing candidate most
likely to make it to the second round is
jean-luc melenchon milan recently
proposed that france leave nato
organization
that's a risky statement in the middle
of a war in europe
in late february almost all leading
candidates were in favor of restricting
migration
far-right candidates linked immigration
to crime and a decline of national
identity but in the wake of the russian
invasion the public has showed broad
support for welcoming ukrainian refugees
to france
after the russian invasion of ukraine
things did turn
a little more awkward for the far right
here in france both seymour and le pen
had supported putin in the past
and over the last few weeks they've had
to backtrack they've had to say they no
longer support putin and they also do
not support this invasion but zimur
quickly returned to his pre-invasion
campaign rhetoric and said he's opposed
to france taking in a significant share
of ukrainian refugees
le pen has appeared more welcoming to
ukrainians but she remains opposed to
refugees from non-european countries
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government has largely followed other
european nations open door approach to
ukrainians france has welcomed thousands
of refugees from ukraine mccall and his
wife have visited with refugees
but it's unclear if that attitude will
apply to a more welcoming stance of
refugees from other nations
for now the ukraine crisis appears to
have boosted macon's chances of being
re-elected but as the backlash of
sanctions and the impact of the war hit
the french economy the far-right may
still see an opportunity for themselves
to move ahead in the election and one of
the most significant developments of
course would be if they joined forces if
there's only one
far-right candidate campaigning against
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