Macron heads to blue-collar France in search of more votes

div classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodivpBy Richard Loughp

pPARIS Reuters – French President Emmanuel Macron will take his hunt for extra votes to the industrial heartlands of northern France on Monday, a bluecollar stronghold of his farright rival Marine Le Pen who he will face in an April 24 presidential runoff vote.pdivdivdiv classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodiv

pMacron and Le Pen came out on top in Sundays firstround vote, setting up a repeat of the 2017 duel pitting a proEuropean economic liberal against a eurosceptic nationalist.p

pPolls predict a closefought second round with one survey projecting Macron will win with just 51 of the vote and 49 for Le Pen. The gap is so tight that victory either way is within the margin of error.p

p“Lets make no mistake, nothing has been decided yet,” Macron told his cheering supporters after partial results showed him qualifying for the runoff.p

pHe took aim at his farright rival over the financing of her populist economic agenda that would see the retirement age cut to 60 for those who start work before 20, income tax scrapped for the under30s and VAT on energy reduced to 5.5 from 20.p

pSpeaking of his own manifesto, Macron said: “Do you want a France that speaks of full employment and is serious about financing its welfare state, its pensioners, its schools, hospitals and public services？” p

pMacron supporters and some of his campaign insiders have said he must now focus on wooing the left.p

pLe Pen won 33 of the votes in the northern HautsdeFrance region. Leftwing candidates won a combined 2728 of the vote in the area. How the left‘s votes are redistributed nationally will be a key factor in the secondround vote’s outcome. p

pLe Pen has patiently detoxified the image of her farright party and brought it closer to the mainstream at a time France has also lurched to the right in the wake of Islamist attacks. Even so, her softer, less combative manner belies a hardline antiimmigrant programme. p

pBut it has been her focus on the costofliving issues troubling millions that has helped her tap into a widespread discontent towards rulers as she has toured towns and villages across France.p

pShe said voters were making a choice between two opposite visions of France: “one of division, injustice and disorder imposed by Emmanuel Macron for the benefit of a few, the other a rallying together of French people around social justice and protection.”p

pThe yield on French 5 and 10year government bonds hit multiyear highs ahead of the first round as the race tightened.p

pMorgan Stanley said in a briefing note that it expected spreads between French and German 10year bonds to “hover close to the current level until the outcome of the second round”.p

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pp Reporting by Paris bureau writing by Richard Lough editing by Diane Craftp

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