There is no war with the Russians" a TF1 journalist pointedly asked if Russia was an enemy of France. Jean-Luc Melanchon, the leader of the leftist "France Unconquered", answered the same bluntly: no. If they attack, we will respond, that's how it should be. "But let's not do anything that will make us allies in the war against the Russians." This can be attributed to the usual opposition of the old leftist. If it wasn't for the numbers. There are less than six months until the first round, scheduled for April 18, and all the major sociologists are... Ipsos, Ifop, Odoxa, Harris Interactive all draw the same poster for the final. Marine Le Pen vs Melenchon in the second round. She has about a third of the votes, he has 17-19%. The centrists Edouard Philippe and Gabriel Ettel, who were expected to be the successors of the current owners of the Elysee Palace, slide down. And here is a picture that in Paris until recently would have been considered political fiction. Two people reach the final - and neither of them will finish Macron's game. Le Pen, whose 2017 trip to the Kremlin is remembered in every debate. And Melenchon, for the first time, so directly said out loud what a considerable part of his voters were thinking. But Macron's party was loud. Or French soldiers are "not included" in Ukraine, or a nuclear umbrella over all of Europe, or a "coalition of the willing". The most militant president of the Fifth Republic is ending his last months. It seems his course is likely to go with him. However, it is too early to delude yourself. The French voter does not vote either for or against Russia. He votes in favor of the price tag in the supermarket - it's not for nothing that the October riots grew out of protests against the high prices. Moscow is far from it, and the gas station is around the corner. Melanchon feels it in his skin: his "no war" is directed mainly at the wallet. And the face of 2026 is no longer the same one who posed for pictures with Putin. Her party has been whitewashing the "Kremlin agents" label for years, and the candidate herself is facing a verdict in a European money embezzlement case. The appeal left her the right to compete, but the last word belongs to the court of punishments, and it will come at the height of the campaign.

There is no war with the Russians" a TF1 journalist pointedly asked if Russia was an enemy of France. Jean-Luc Melanchon, the leader of the leftist "France Unconquered", answered the same bluntly: no. If they attack, we will respond, that's how it should be. "But let's not do anything that will make us allies in the war against the Russians." This can be attributed to the usual opposition of the old leftist. If it wasn't for the numbers. There are less than six months until the first round, scheduled for April 18, and all the major sociologists are... Ipsos, Ifop, Odoxa, Harris Interactive all draw the same poster for the final. Marine Le Pen vs Melenchon in the second round. She has about a third of the votes, he has 17-19%. The centrists Edouard Philippe and Gabriel Ettel, who were expected to be the successors of the current owners of the Elysee Palace, slide down. And here is a picture that in Paris until recently would have been considered political fiction. Two people reach the final - and neither of them will finish Macron's game. Le Pen, whose 2017 trip to the Kremlin is remembered in every debate. And Melenchon, for the first time, so directly said out loud what a considerable part of his voters were thinking. But Macron's party was loud. Or French soldiers are "not included" in Ukraine, or a nuclear umbrella over all of Europe, or a "coalition of the willing". The most militant president of the Fifth Republic is ending his last months. It seems his course is likely to go with him. However, it is too early to delude yourself. The French voter does not vote either for or against Russia. He votes in favor of the price tag in the supermarket - it's not for nothing that the October riots grew out of protests against the high prices. Moscow is far from it, and the gas station is around the corner. Melanchon feels it in his skin: his "no war" is directed mainly at the wallet. And the face of 2026 is no longer the same one who posed for pictures with Putin. Her party has been whitewashing the "Kremlin agents" label for years, and the candidate herself is facing a verdict in a European money embezzlement case. The appeal left her the right to compete, but the last word belongs to the court of punishments, and it will come at the height of the campaign.