Up, down, left, right, which way to the Elysée Palace?
As France prepares for its ninth presidential election since the Fifth Republic was created in 1958, we explain what to expect in the coming weeks. Here, we present the leading candidates and their policies plus key words and phrases you may read or hear.
Outsider leads
Emmanuel Macron
En Marche! (Centre)
An 39-year-old former investment banker and senior civil servant from Amiens known for his business-orientated attitudes. Appointed Economy Minister in 2014. Having never been elected to public office, Macron founded his own progressive political movement En Marche! in 2016.
Did you know? Macron is married to Brigitte Trogneux, 24 years older than him – the pair became a couple when he was 18.
Policy points: Improve purchasing power by reducing contributions paid by employees, lessen burdens for employers and support private investment; Invest €5billion to improve medicine, hospitals, and disease prevention education; Invest €5bn in agriculture and the food industry, and fight for fair prices for farmers; Cooperate with insurance companies in order to fully cover costs for glasses and hearing or dental prostheses by 2022; Create a universal system for the calculation of pensions and increase old-age benefits by €100 per month; Digitalise administration; Spend €50bn on a five-year plan to improve public services.
He said it: “I do not need a ventriloquist”– Macron to Marine Le Pen during the first election television debate on March 20.
Favourite falls
François Fillon
Les Républicains (Right)
Wealthy 63-year-old former lawyer from Le Mans, and prime minister under Nicolas Sarkozy. Known for his reformist approach, lack of charisma and admiration for Margaret Thatcher. Frontrunner until claims of paying his wife €500,000, and receiving gifts of €13,000 of suits and watches worth €27,000.
Did you know? Fillon is a keen race car enthusiast and made an appearance on France’s version of Top Gear.
Policy points: Keep France in the EU and refocus Europe on its basic values of collaboration and exchange; Reduce immigration to a strict minimum using yearly quotas; Strip jihadists of their French nationality and ban them from returning to France; Only issue long-term residence permits to people showing a prospect of integration; Raise the retirement age to 65; Eliminate gay adoption rights; Cut 500,000 public sector jobs and public spending; Scrap the 35-hour work
week in the private sector and return to 39-hour week in public services; Cap unemployment benefits at 75%; Invest €12billion in security and police.
He said it: “I may have made mistakes. I have defects. Who doesn’t? But I have experience”. Fillon alludes to PenelopeGate in TV debate.
Right hooks
Marine Le Pen
Front National (Far Right)
A 48-year-old Catholic lawyer and youngest daughter of FN founder Jean-Marie. She joined in 1986 and has been its president since 2011. Since taking over, she has tried to distance it from its previous xenophobic and radical image. Came third behind Hollande and Sarkozy in the 2012 election. Criticised for her anti-globalist approach.
Did you know? Marine Le Pen survived a bomb attack on her Parisian home when she was eight years old.
Policy points: Have a referendum and leave the EU; Remove the droit du sol – making the acquisition of French nationality possible only by filiation or naturalisation; Reintroduce the franc; Leave NATO; Introduce a “French first” clause to priortise French nationals for jobs, housing, schools, and welfare support; Beef up sentences for the worst crimes; Ban organisations and deport foreigners linked to Islamist fundamentalists; Massively increase public security; Introduce a Purchasing Power Premium for low income households; Ban religious symbols from the public sphere.
She said it: “The divide is not between the left and right anymore but between patriots and globalists!”
Left behind
Benoît Hamon
Parti Socialiste (Left)
A 49-year-old career politician from Saint-Renan, Finistère, was Economy Minister and, briefly, Education Minister. After a history degree, Hamon was a parliamentary assistant and became the first president of the Movement of Young Socialists in 1993 and later an MEP. Won the socialist party primaire in January with nearly 60% of votes.
Did you know? During his childhood Hamon lived in Dakar, Senegal for four years. His wife is half-Catalan, half-Danish.
Policy points: Create a basic income for 18-25 year-olds – those earning less than 1.9 times the SMIC would get an extra €600 (means tested); Grant foreigners right to vote in local elections; Create a humanitarian visa that will give those in distress access to France; Invest in renewable energy so France can harvest 50% of its energy from renewables and stop using diesel by 2025; Ban harmful pesticides; Invest €5billion for agro-ecology and cooperatives; Pool European debt; Pool European intelligence services and levy a ‘robot tax’ in industry; Legalise cannabis and euthanasia.
He said it: “The money party has too many candidates in this election. One says “Get rich”, the other says “make us rich”.
The last man
Jean-Luc Mélenchon
La France insoumise (Left)
A 65-year-old Morocco-born Socialist Republican, former teacher and journalist. Current member of the European Parliament. Came fourth in the 2012 election representing the Front de Gauche with 11.1% of the votes. Launched La France insoumise (Unsubmissive France) in 2016, a new movement that includes the French Communist Party.
Did you know? Mélenchon once worked in the watchmaking
company Maty and is in a relationship with actress Saïda Jawad.
Policy points: Reform the EU or hold a referendum to leave; Allow the UK to exit the EU without a spirit of revenge; Establish a ‘green rule’ where France does not take more from nature than the amount that can be regenerated; Implement the right to dismiss elected officials; Separate the banks from retail; Increase buying power by setting a monthly net Smic minimum wage of €1,326; Create a Personalised Poverty Reduction Plan; Abandon nuclear energy to use 100% renewable energies by 2050; Create 500,000 spaces in childcare facilities within five years.
He said it: “I will be the last president of the 5th Republic”. In confident mood during the first live television debate on March 20.
And not forgetting...
There will be six more names on the ballot paper when France goes to the polls on April 23 – from a broad political spectrum:
Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, 56, Debout la France (Right, Gaullist)
Nathalie Arthaud, 47, Lutte Ouvrière (Left, Communist)
Philippe Poutou, 50, New Anticapitalist Party (Left, Radical)
Jacques Cheminade, 75, Solidarity and Progress (Left)
Jean Lassalle, 61, Résistons! (Centre)
François Asselineau, 59, Popular Republican Union (Right)
There was controversy when TV channel TF1 said that only the five leading candidates would be invited to participate in the first live television debate. It prompted Nicolas Dupont-Aignan to storm off an interview on the channel. “There are no small and big candidates,
as this channel believes,” he said. “There is no democracy when a television channel decides who can express themselves and who cannot. Millions of French people will not accept this. So, in the name of democracy I am obliged to leave.” He lodged a complaint about
TF1’s policy with the Conseil d’Etat, but it was rejected. As the programme started, candidates noted the ‘undemocratic’ absence of the six other candidates, who had not been invited to the debate by TF1 producers.
