Top (l-r): Marine Le Pen, Fabien Roussel, Anne Hidalgo & Emmanuel Macron; Bottom: Eric Zemmour, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Valérie Pécresse & Yannick Jadot
Top (l-r): Marine Le Pen, Fabien Roussel, Anne Hidalgo & Emmanuel Macron; Bottom: Eric Zemmour, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Valérie Pécresse & Yannick Jadot Copyright AP Photo/Thibault Camus

France election: Who's who in the race to unseat Macron?

By Alice TideyLauren Chadwick with AFP
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Your guide to some of the leading candidates to be France's next president.

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In the run-up to France's presidential election on Sunday, Euronews is publishing a story at 16:00 each day to help you better understand the race for the Elysee.

French voters go to the polls on 10 and 24 April to choose a new president - but who is in the running to unseat Emmanuel Macron?

The most notable newcomer to the race is far-right candidate Eric Zemmour, who threatens to take votes from Marine Le Pen.

Polls point to a Macron victory but the French presidential election is notoriously unpredictable. Macron is the perfect example, having launched a political movement just months before the 2017 election and going on to triumph.

Key issues dominating the campaign so far include work, the cost of living — a debate ignited by the 2018 "gilets jaunes" protests —, the environment, immigration and security, especially after Russia invaded Ukraine at the end of February.

Emmanuel Macron - La République en Marche

The incumbent president has been leading in the polls despite launching his campaign at the beginning of March.

Macron announced he was running for president just ahead of the official deadline in a statement published in local newspapers and social media.

The 44-year-old frontrunner has since then risen in the polls amid the war in Ukraine, as he has attempted to engage diplomatically with both Ukraine and Russia during the crisis.

AP Photo/Francois Mori, Pool
French President Emmanuel Macron gives a speech at the Elysee Palace, 29 March 2022.AP Photo/Francois Mori, Pool

He plans to reduce unemployment levels, limit access to some unemployment benefits, and also raise the retirement age to 65. He also said he wants to focus on education and health, including a focus on preventive care.

Macron's programme has been criticised by the mainstream right-wing party as copying some of their own measures, including his decision to increase the retirement age.

Among other measures in his programme include plans to build six new nuclear power plants and increase the number of police officers.

Macron, a former economy minister from the Socialist party, created his own movement ahead of the 2017 election, branding himself as a centrist.

Marine Le Pen - Rassemblement National

Seen as Macron's main rival and projected to join him in the second round of the plebiscite is Marine Le Pen.

The far-right leader, 53, is sticking to her preferred themes, namely immigration and security.

Among the measures she has outlined are the end of naturalisation by marriage and automatic citizenship at 18 for people born on French soil and still residing there.

She also plans to restrict access to family allowances to French people, with a five-year waiting period for foreigners.

AP Photo/Daniel Cole
Marine Le Pen delivers a speech, at a National Rally event in Frejus, France, Sunday, Sept. 12, 2021.AP Photo/Daniel Cole

She also wants to abolish subsidies for "intermittent energies", including wind and photovoltaic power.

She has however abandoned the idea of taking France out of the European Union, Schengen Area and eurozone.

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Le Pen has sought to soften her party's image since taking over from her father — who was sentenced multiple times for his antisemitic comments. This has made the party more mainstream but she now risks being outflanked on the right by new personality, Eric Zemmour.

Her main challenge will be to build her credibility on issues not pertaining to immigration and security. Her lack of experience and economic knowledge saw her eviscerated by Macron during a televised debate in 2017.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon - La France Insoumise

The left-wing populist leader, 70, came fourth in the last presidential election, capturing nearly 20% of the first-round vote. He has consistently polled the highest of all left-wing candidates in the months leading up to the election.

Many of his proposals have been solidly on social issues and the cost of living.

He has for instance announced that he plans to create a "social emergency law" that would allow for the price of basic necessities to be frozen, including fuel, gas, electricity and some food items.

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He also wants to boost the monthly minimum wage from €1,258 net currently to €1,400 net.

Bertrand Guay, Pool Photo via AP
French far-left leader, Jean-Luc Melenchon in Paris, Thursday Sept. 23, 2021.Bertrand Guay, Pool Photo via AP

Mélenchon is a controversial figure. He was given a three-month suspended prison term and an €8,000 fine in December 2019 for intimidating officials who were carrying out a search at his office in a probe over funding irregularities.

Anne Hidalgo - Socialist Party

The 62-year-old is the current mayor of Paris, after winning a second term in 2020.

She has called for the education and health systems to be "rebuilt" and said that "the question of work should once again become a central issue".

Like Melenchon, she plans to boost wages. She has said that one of her first acts as president would be to convene negotiations with unions "to put the French back in a position where they can live with dignity from their work".

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AP Photo/Michel Euler
Socialist mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo announces her candidacy for the upcoming presidential election in France at a meeting in Rouen, Normandy, Sept. 12, 2021.AP Photo/Michel Euler

She is also positioning herself as an ecologist. Among the measures she has rolled out in the French capital are restrictions on car traffic in parts of the city and more bike lanes. Her new mandate plans for the plantation of 170,000 trees, the energy renovation of buildings and an end to plastic in school canteens.

She faces two major challenges. The first one is that she is seen as a local politician, tied to Paris. The second is that she is the candidate of a floundering party. The Socialists' candidate in 2017 secured just 6.2% of the vote — a record low for the party. This was followed by heavy defeats in the legislative and European parliament elections.

Yannick Jadot - Green Party

Jadot, 54, is an MEP who won the Green party ticket for the presidential election in 2017, only to rally behind the Socialist candidate.

This time, such an alliance appears unlikely even though the two left-wing parties joined forces to win the Paris and Marseille mayoral elections.

His programme includes pledges to put an end to intensive livestock farming and to weaken lobbies, which he said "swallow up subsidies and public policies so that the climate, health, the environment and social justice finally take precedence".

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AP Photo/Lewis Joly
Green Party candidate to lead the 2022 presidential campaign Yannick Jadot, left, Sept. 28, 2021 in ParisAP Photo/Lewis Joly

"Every euro of public money will be conditional on the protection of the environment. Not a single euro for Total until Total breaks with its logic of always looking for more oil and more gas in the ground," he has said.

He also plans to restore a tax on wealth and to tax financial assets that invest in fossil fuels more.

Finally, he has unveiled a plan to inject €50 billion a year during the five-year mandate to "repair" the country and "rebuild" the economy. The funds would go towards infrastructure projects, housing, transport and help the economy transition into "a virtuous circle of investment and responsible consumption."

Valérie Pécresse - Les Républicains

Valérie Pécresse was picked by members of the right-wing party Les Républicains to be their first female candidate in France's presidential election.

The head of the populous Ile-De-France region, in which Paris is located, is also a two-time minister for higher education and budget.

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Ludovic Marin, Pool via AP
Paris Ile de France administrative region president Valerie Pecresse arrives prior to the start the ceremony marking the 103rd anniversary of Armistice DayLudovic Marin, Pool via AP

She has pledged to review plans to close nuclear reactors, conceding however that nuclear will not suffice and that renewables need to be boosted. Other proposals include a carbon tax at Europe's borders and "European preference in public procurement".

She also called for wages to be brought up and for reforms of the unemployment and pension systems and promised to bring down public debt.

To win the nomination, Pécresse beat several high-profile candidates from her party including Eric Ciotti, a hardline MP from Nice; Xavier Bertrand, president of the Hauts-De-France region; Michel Barnier, former EU Brexit negotiator; and Philippe Juvin, a mayor who gained prominence amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Eric Zemmour - Reconquest

Controversial columnist, television pundit and author Eric Zemmour has also thrown his hat into the ring for France's presidency.

Zemmour, 63, is famed for his provocations on Islam, immigration and women which have seen him sued multiple times. He was convicted of provoking racial discrimination in 2011 and provoking hatred towards Muslims in 2018.

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He argues France is in decline both geopolitically and economically which he blames on immigration, as well as the "Islamisation" and "feminisation" of society.

Bertrand Guay, Pool Photo via AP
French far-right media pundit Eric Zemmour in Paris, Sept. 23, 2021.Bertrand Guay, Pool Photo via AP

The TV pundit created a media frenzy in France, prompting France's media regulator to rule that he should be seen as a politician, not a journalist and that his airtime should thus be subject to limitations**.**

Zemmour's bid for the Elysée could harm Marine Le Pen as the two have some similar positions. Several prominent figures in her party have already called for Zemmour to rally behind her.

It could also lead the candidate from Les Republicains to veer to the right on certain themes including immigration and security in order to stem a possible exodus of votes.

Fabien Roussel - Le Parti communiste

A former journalist who spent time reporting in Vietnam, Fabien Roussel has been the leader of France's communist party since 2018.

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Roussel, 52, is currently a French MP from the northern-most region of the country on the Belgian border.

Ludovic Marin, Pool via AP
French Communist Party presidential candidate Fabien Roussel speaks during the show "France in the Face of War", 14 March 2022.Ludovic Marin, Pool via AP

He supports reducing the workweek to 32 hours and bringing down the retirement age to 60 as well as raising the minimum wage to €1500 a month.

But Roussel has also been criticised for his pro-nuclear and pro-hunting stance. He was criticised by some on the left for saying that meat, wine and cheese were the essentials of French gastronomy and that he wanted to make sure people had access to them.

Every weekday, Uncovering Europe brings you a European story that goes beyond the headlines. Download the Euronews app to get a daily alert for this and other breaking news notifications. It's available on Apple and Android devices.

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