PARIS, Apr 08 (Reuters): French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday accused his far-right challenger Marine Le Pen of lying to voters about her campaign platform as he sought to rally support two days before the presidential election's first round.
Macron, whose re-election seemed a foregone conclusion just weeks ago, is now facing a stiff challenge from Le Pen. Her solid comeback in opinion polls has put her victory within the margin of error in some surveys.
"Her fundamentals have not changed: it's a racist programmeme that aims to divide society and is very brutal," Macron told Le Parisien newspaper. "There was a clear strategy (from Le Pen's camp) to hide what is brutal in her programmeme."
Le Pen told broadcaster Franceinfo that she was "shocked" at Macron's accusation of racism which she rejected, saying her programmeme aimed at putting the rights of French people first, regardless of their origin.
She has centreed her campaign on purchasing power, successfully softening her image and tapping into voters' main concern by promising to cut taxes.
"She is lying to people," Macron said, slamming Le Pen's campaign pledges as empty promises that she would not be able to finance and that would send investors fleeing, resulting in mass unemployment.
While Le Pen has not changed the core of her party's anti-immigration platform, which would strip foreigners of many rights and ban the hijab in all public spaces, she has not focused her campaign on that. Rival far-right candidate Eric Zemmour's radical, outspoken views have helped her look more mainstream and many left-wing voters have told pollsters that, unlike in 2017.
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