Not yet officially a candidate, Emmanuel Macron will hold a first meeting on March 5 in Marseille, at Parc Chanot, according to sources from La République en Marche. The head of state is expected to declare his candidacy next week, on a date still unknown, according to his entourage. In the midst of the crisis between Ukraine and Russia, Emmanuel Macron postponed the question of his candidacy as close as possible to the deadline set by the Constitutional Council on March 4.
For several weeks, the executive has been repeating that Emmanuel Macron will preside “until the last quarter of an hour”, an idea to which the president would be particularly attached and which explains his late declaration. His entourage referred to an interview in Ouest-France on Sunday in which Emmanuel Macron said when asked if he only declared himself in March: “I didn’t tell you anything”.
The situation has provoked a series of criticisms from the opposition, which accuses him of “hiding” and campaigning without saying so. According to an Elabe poll published on Wednesday, Emmanuel Macron is still leading the voting intentions in the first round of the presidential election (24.5%), ahead of Marine Le Pen (RN) at 18%, while Eric Zemmour (Reconquest!) is stable at 13.5% and Valérie Pécresse (LR) drops to 11.5%, just ahead of LFI candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon (11%).
