Le Pen in final push ahead of tight French election battle

PERPIGNAN, France: French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen made a final push for votes on Thursday, three days ahead of an election which polls project as an increasingly tight battle against President Emmanuel Macron.

The incumbent had built what seemed like an unassailable lead ahead of the first round of polls on Sunday but Le Pen has eroded the margin and feels she has a real chance of winning the run-off on April 24.

With France’s traditional right- and left-wing parties facing electoral disaster, far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon is on course to come third and he still believes he can sneak into a run-off.

Le Pen was to hold her last campaign rally on Thursday evening in the southern stronghold of Perpignan where her National Rally party has long had strong support and runs the local council.

In an interview with RTL radio, the anti-immigration politician vowed to ban the Muslim headscarf in all public spaces saying it would be enforced by police in the same way as seatbelt-wearing in cars.

The latest OpinionWay-Kéa Partners survey showed Macron falling back to 26 percent in the first round and Le Pen edging up to 22 percent, with Melenchon also gaining ground on 17. Macron was projected to beat Le Pen in the second round with 53 percent to her 47 -- a narrower margin than the same pollsters forecast last week.

A new Ifop-Fidicual poll showed similar trends of Macron slipping and Le Pen gaining with the president on 26.5 percent in round one and Le Pen on 24 percent. Macron was projected to win the second round with 52 percent compared with Le Pen’s 48.

Le Pen, 53, has toned down her anti-immigration rhetoric during campaigning this year and has focused instead on household spending, putting her closer than ever to power, polls indicate.