Amna: France's 49 million voters
go to the polls Sunday for a
second and final round vote
between incumbent president
Emmanuel macron and far right
challenger marine LE pen.
As campaining ended, macron cast
LE pen as a radical, while she
told voters macron is
anti-france.
Special correspondent Malcolm
brabant reports from Paris.
Malcolm: We're going to win,
chant the supporters of marine
LE pen, who was thoroughly
trounced by Emmanuel macron in
this contest five years ago.
Since that defeat, LE pen
moderated her hardline rhetoric
to appear more mainstream.
But she needs the votes of the
extreme right, and as her
campaign peaked, she channeled
Donald Trump with pleas to make
France great again.
Ms. LE pen: People of France,
the moment when you can claim
justice in the ballot box is
approaching.
The moment when you can throw
away the bad memories of this
reign of arrogance is this
Sunday.
People of France, rise up
against those who have such
little regard for the defence of
our civilisation, who have
denigrated your history, your
culture, your traditions, who
have submerged our sole
demographic prospect in
immigration, who have authorised
the construction of mosques and
cathedrals subjected to
pernicious foreign influences.
Malcolm: France's eternal
inspiration, Marianne, who
symbolises freedom, solidarity,
and equality, is draped in the
Ukrainian flag.
But LE pen has been accused by
president macron of being in
Vladimir Putin's pocket after
her party borrowed nearly $10
million from a Moscow bank.
LE pen has threatened to
withdraw France from nato's
American led integrated military
command.
She's also opposed to ending
imports of Russian oil, because
she believes it would hurt
France.
In this election, domestic
issues trump concerns over
European peace.
Marine LE pen has very little
support in metropolitan Paris.
Rural villages and provincial
towns like arras, here in
northern France have become
strongholds.
This is part of France's rust
belt, which has been hit hard by
the closure of steel mills and
mines.
LE pen's pledges to bring down
the cost of living and her
anti-immigrant stance really
resonate here.
>> I'm not racist, I've had
foreign friends who integrated
better, whereas nowadays,they
are in small communities, they
don't mix.
We've had Italians, Spanish,
they assimilated, they learned
the language, they learned our
habits.
But them, no.
You see that, for me that's not
France.
>> From a builder's perspective,
with marine LE pen, we can have
better purchasing power, which
will be great.
>> What will be better with
marine is that she will save
France.
She's got a program.
Malcolm: The prospect of a LE
pen presidency horrifies those
living amid the brutalist
architecture of France's poor
city suburbs.
St. Denis on the outskirts of
Paris is the most diverse
district in the country.
>> Look at me.
I'm scared because I'm a
foreigner, even though I was
born here.
LE pen tells me I'm only French
on paper, but I'm French.
That's why I'm scared.
Malcolm: Song writer and
composer Pedro Kouyate fuses
African rhythms with western
genres.
He was born in France after his
parents emigrated from Mali in
west Africa, which is struggling
with an islamist insurgency.
Despite LE pen's assurances,
ultimately he fears deportation.
>> We are the scapegoats.
I'm scared because I love this
country.
Long before me, my ancestors
helped France during the second
World War and now we're looking
at the other end of the spectrum
where the right wing have said
what they will do, and they will
apply what they've said.
Be careful.
We know who we're dealing with
here.
Malcolm: Sociologist and
anthropologist nacira guenif
specializes in migration and
ethnic minorities.
She hopes that supporters of
left winger jean-luc melenchon,
eliminated in the election's
first round held two weeks ago,
will vote for macron on Sunday.
What do you think the chances
that there could be a trump
style upset and that LE pen will
win against the odds?
>> Yes, there might be something
of that kind.
I mean, if you consider that
Europe is not free of all these
tendencies and France is part of
Europe, and it hasn't fought
hard enough against states like
Hungary or Poland that put to
the fore these kind of policies
against migration, against civil
rights.
Malcolm: They are relying on
disaffected voters to cast votes
against LE pen.
>> I tell you, I've got the
chills.
It's scary.
It's scary because in her right
wing program, where do we
immigrants go?
What are we going to do?
What are we going to become?
Malcolm: LE pen's campaign is
banking on unhappy left leaning
voters abstaining.
Mariama sadio falls into that
camp.
Don't you think you have to vote
tactically to stop LE pen from
getting in?
>> It could be seen as a
tactical vote, I understand
that.
But to me that would mean I was
for macron, and I'm not for
macron.
Malcolm: Centrist Emmanuel
macron has a serious fight on
his hands, because his five-year
presidency was littered with
protests and he's widely
perceived as being arrogant and
out of touch with much of the
population.
LE pen's surge is said to have
caused panic amongst the
president's strategists.
Alexandre Holroyd represents
macron's party in the national
assembly.
Has president macron been
complacent in this campaign?
>> Absolutely not.
I think the president has been
as much as a candidate as he
could, and has been as much of a
president as he had to.
And this has been an exceptional
time obviously, with the
conflict in Ukraine.
And he's been fully working, day
in and day out, trying to
prevent that conflict
originally, and trying to
mitigate its impact.
Malcolm: Although still
preoccupied with Ukraine, macron
has stepped up his campaigning
in these final days.
Pres. Macron: To all the French
who chose to abstain or the vote
on the extreme, I want to
convince them in the coming days
that our project is a much
stronger response compared to
the far-right's scares and the
challenges of our time.
You can count on me.
[Singing]
Malcolm: LE pen's rallies always
end with the marseillaise, the
French national anthem.
This election represents the
best chance the far right has
ever had of winning the
presidency.
Yet all the latest opinion polls
suggest that marine LE pen will
fall short once again.
For "The pbs newshour," I'm
Malcolm brabant in Paris.
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