Eric Zemmour, the extreme right anti-immigration TV pundit who finished fourth on 7%, is speaking now.
He says he is not a politician, he may have made mistakes, but still:
I take each of your votes as the cry of a people that doesn’t want to die. The fact that two million of you voted for me shows my message matters. Your voice can no longer be ignored. Everyone can see our ideas are worth far more than my score today. Keep the faith. Your vote is a vote for the future, because the truths we have spoken in this campaign will become obvious to all.
He says he has many disagreements with Marine Le Pen, but she is opposed in the second round by a man “who has never mentioned questions of identity or fatherland”. He asks his supporters to back Le Pen:
I call on my voters to cast their ballots for Marine Le Pen. I know some of you will not want to. But there is something greater than all of us, and that is France.”
Both Valérie Pécresse, the rightwing candidate, and Yannick Jadot, the Green party candidates, have clearly asked their supporters to vote for Emmanule Macron in the second round, saying it is essential to block the progress of the far right.
Anne Hidalgo, the Socialist party candidate, has also called on her voters to back Macron. Far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s decision to endorse Macron or not is likely to be very important - polls suggest many of his supporters could be tempted to vote for Le Pen.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the far-left candidate, is speaking now. He tells his supporters:
A new page of the fight is turned ... we should be proud of the work we have done. We have assembled a popular front.
He asks his supporters not to vote for Marine Le Pen:
We know who we will never vote for. Don’t give your votes for Madame Le Pen. We must not give a single vote for Madame Le Pen. I think this message is now heard.
That’s not quite the same, of course, as calling on his voters to cast their ballots for Emmanuel Macron. But Macron will take it.
