The war in Ukraine has upset the French presidential campaign but in many ways it has benefited the incumbent, Emmanuel Macron, reports Politico.
As the French president engaged in another round of phone calls on Monday to try and secure peace between Ukraine and Russia, his political opponents were left watching from the sidelines.
Russia’s assault on Ukraine is taking place just as Macron is expected to officially announce his reelection bid, marking the start of the presidential campaign’s final stretch.
The French head to the polls on April 10 for the election’s first round, but while his opponents have been campaigning for weeks and pushing their policy proposals, Macron has kept his cards close to his chest, carefully planning for a lightning-fast campaign.
It’s not clear what the last weeks of the campaign will look like, as all camps have been forced to change political strategies and cancel rallies because of the war.
But recent polls suggest the French president is gaining support as a result of the crisis. A poll from Harris Interactive gave him 27 percent of the vote and another from Ifop put him at 28 percent, around 10 percentage points ahead of the far-right’s Marine Le Pen, currently polling in second place for the election’s first round.
Insiders in Macron’s rivals’ camps say they are finding it difficult to find angles of attack on the French president.
Read more of this report from Politico.
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