the candidates denounce the “crimes” of Boutcha

Presidential candidates said Monday they were shocked by images of civilians killed in the kyiv region, denouncing “crimes” and calling for most to toughen sanctions against Russia.

Six days before the first round, the war in Ukraine and its ramifications thus continue to weigh on this presidential campaign which has entered its very final stretch.

Outgoing President Emmanuel Macron said he was “in favor” of new European Union sanctions against Russia, particularly on oil and coal. According to the Elysée, this will be discussed in Brussels on Wednesday.

There are “very clear indications of war crimes” in the small town of Boutcha, and it is “almost established that it was the Russian army” which was present there, he added on France Inter .

The environmental candidate Yannick Jadot has again called for an embargo on Russian hydrocarbons, while the socialist Anne Hidalgo calls for “stop paying for the gas of shame”.

Criticized for positions deemed pro-Russian, the LFI candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon estimated that “Russian officials must (…) answer” for “crimes of the Russian army”.

On the far right, the RN candidate Marine Le Pen, who had refused at the end of March to qualify Vladimir Putin as a “war criminal”, resolved on Monday to use these words. But if Eric Zemmour denounced an “infamous crime”, believing that Vladimir Putin “smears the image” of Russia, he argued that he found it difficult to “drag” him before the International Criminal Court.

The war in Ukraine continues to mark a campaign already suffocated in its infancy by the Covid crisis, which now makes pollsters fear a very large abstention on Sunday: it could reach some 30%, a record for a first round of presidential elections under the V Republic, underlines an Ipsos SopraSteria poll published on Sunday.

– Macron-LePen duel –

On D-6 of the ballot, the duel announced according to the polls between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen is firmly anchored in the landscape.

The outgoing head of state is credited with 27.5% of the voting intentions in the first round, while the RN candidate continues to rise to 22%, indicates an Ifop-Fiducial poll published on Monday.

For the second round, his lead was however reduced in the margin of error of the polls (53%-47%), now worrying the “macronie”.

“At 52%-48% and even at 54%-46%, the electoral accident is quite possible” for Emmanuel Macron, warns political scientist Pascal Perrineau Monday in Les Echos.

Denouncing this “rise” of “those who play with fears”, Emmanuel Macron said he wanted to “convince” voters tempted by extremes that they “do not provide the right answer”.

The president-candidate also attacked his competitor LFI on Monday, accused of having “relayed fake news” by having affirmed that he wanted to “send a 12-year-old kid to an apprenticeship”, which he said. categorically denied.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who calls for a “useful vote”, is now installed in third place at some 15.5%, ahead of Valérie Pécresse (LR) and Eric Zemmour (Reconquest!), elbow-to-elbow around 10%, then Yannick Jadot, at 4.5%, according to the Ifop poll.

Faced with the risk of seeing some of her voters vote for the outgoing president or far-right candidates, Valérie Pécresse reaffirmed on Monday that Eric Zemmour and Marine Le Pen were “Emmanuel Macron’s re-election insurance”.

“When you’re a Pétainist, you’re not a Gaullist, and when you’re on the far right, you’re a Poutinist,” she argued before flying off for an express round trip to Guadeloupe.

– “Anti-Semitic murder?” –

Accused by his opponents of fleeing the debate, Emmanuel Macron declined, according to the SDJ of the chain, an invitation to participate Tuesday in the France 2 program, “Elysée 2022”. All the other candidates participated.

The candidates now rely on final appointments in the media, meetings or trips to mobilize their voters and convince the undecided. It is also the last opportunity for the “smallest” of them, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan (NDA), Philippe Poutou (NPA), Nathalie Arthaud (LO) and Jean Lassalle (Resist!), to be heard .

Several candidates, far right in the lead, also seized Monday of the death in February of a young man hit by a tram in Bobigny after an altercation to ask if it was not an anti-Semitic act.

“What was presented as an accident could be an anti-Semitic murder. How to explain the silence on this affair and its motivations?” Asked the candidate of the National Rally, while Eric Zemmour wrote in a series of four tweets: “Is Did he die to flee scum? Did he die because he was a Jew?

The Bobigny prosecutor announced on Monday that an investigation for “intentional violence in meetings” had been opened at the end of March.

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