Centrist Emmanuel Macron clung onto his status as favorite to win France's presidential election in a four-way race that is too close to call, as far-right challenger Marine Le Pen's camp ramped up its euroskeptic rhetoric in a row with Brussels.
The two would make it to a run-off on May 7, with Macron seen as the likeliest eventual victor in the second round, but both candidates appeared to be losing steam in the last few days of a tightly-fought campaign ahead of the first April 23 ballot, according to the poll, based on a survey of 11,601 people. French centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron an.
France's presidential candidates have been blanketing the country with campaign events amid increased security to try to inspire undecided voters just four days before a nail-biting election.
Fillon, 63, an ex-prime minister whose campaign was derailed by an embezzlement inquiry targeting him, his wife and two of his children, got last-minute public endorsements from ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy and ex-prime minister Alain Juppe - two men he beat to win the presidential ticket of his party, The Republicans. The first round of the elections is on Sunday, April 23. She would be beaten by any of the three others in a run-off, polls have repeatedly shown. A defeat by Hamon could crush the party of unpopular Socialist President Francois Hollande, who chose not to seek a second term.
French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen says all the presidential contenders - and all French people - are potential attack targets. He also met with the head of the main Muslim federation, saying the group is fighting on a "common front" alongside the state against Islamic extremism.
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Le Pen dismissed as "folly" government statements that France, which has been subjected to multiple deadly attacks in recent years, must be prepared to live with the threat of terrorism. In Marseille. She reiterated her plan to expel all foreigners in a suspect file and strip dual national suspects of their French nationality.
Le Pen and Macron have jostled for the lead in opinion polls, with conservative candidate Francois Fillon third and far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon fourth. Meanwhile, Fillon and Melenchon have closed the gap in recent days and either one could conceivably take one of the top spots.
Two polls on Tuesday showed Mr. Fillon and Mr. Melenchon still a few percentage points away from Le Pen and Mr. Macron. Hamon, the Socialist, trailed in fifth. Ms Le Pen's promises to pull France out of the euro, cut immigration, make it harder to get French nationality and to get tough on suspected Islamists, have kept her in joint top place in most of the latest polls.
She said on Wednesday that "I am a candidate in the election for the French republic" and that Europe is acting like France's "enemy".
Accusing the European Union of taking away France's sovereignty and hurting its economy, she wants to pull France out of the European Union and the euro - which would devastate the bloc and badly disrupt financial markets.
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