‘I’M ROOTING FOR YOU’
Barack Obama backs French election favourite Emmanuel Macron saying he ‘appeals to people’s hopes, not fears’
BARACK Obama has joined the battle to ensure liberal independent Emmanuel Macron beats far-Right candidate Marine Le Pen in the French election.
Just three days before the final round of voting, the former US President made an unprecedented video appeal praising Macron for appealing "to people's hopes and not their fears".
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Mr Obama said: "I’m not planning to get involved in many elections now I don’t have to run for office again, but the French election is very important to the future of France, and the values that we care so much about.
"Because the success of France matters to the entire world, I have admired the campaign that Emmanuel Macron has run.
"He had stood up for liberal values. He put forward a vision for the important role that France plays in Europe and around the world, and he is committed to abetter future for the French people.
"He appeals to people’s hopes, and not their fears."
Mr Obama’s intervention came just hours after Ms Le Pen was accused of being ‘a liar’ full of ‘stupidities’ by Mr Macron, of the En Marche! (On the March!) political movement.
In a live TV debate on Wednesday night, Mr Macron said: "The high priestess of fear is sitting in front of me,’as he pointed to Ms Le Pen’s anti-immigrant and anti-EU agenda.
At the end of his new video, which was Tweeted by Mr Macron, Mr Obama told him: "I want all my friends in France to know how much I am rooting for your success.
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"Because of how important this election is I also want you to know that I am supporting Emmanuel Macron to lead you forward. En Marche! Vive la France!"
En Marche! also released an English language video in which Tad Devine, a strategy campaigner to failed Democrat electoral candidate Bernie Saunders, said: "It’s very important to the world that Emmanuel Macron is elected President of France."
Referring to the current US president, Mr Devine added: "After the huge error that we made electing Donald Trump, you can see the consequences."
Mr Macron's supporters also posted a video clip on Twitter featuring American and British citizens expressing regret about their votes in favour of Trump and Brexit.
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The short footage ended with a clear message: "This Sunday France will have to make a choice. The worse is not impossible."
A poll by Elabe for BFM TV following the French TV debates showed 63 per cent of viewers agreeing that 39-year-old Mr Macron was‘more convincing’ than Ms Le Pen, 48.
When Jean-Marie Le Pen, her convicted racist and anti-Semitic father, made it into the final round of the 2002 presidential election, his conservative opponent Jacques Chirac refused to debate with him because he feared ‘normalising hate and intolerance’.
Le Pen senior then went on to lose the election by more than 80 per cent of the vote.Polls currently suggest that Mr Macron will achieve the same feat against Marine Le Pen with some 60 per cent of the vote.
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