An Ifop poll showed him winning 53.5%. However, with abstentions or undecided voters at 25%, a Le Pen victory, which would be the biggest upheaval in the history of modern French politics, cannot be ruled out. Polls attribute Le Pen’s strongest performance compared to 2017 to her success in projecting a more modest image of a candidate who focuses primarily on tackling the rising cost of living. But with a week to go before the second round, its less consensual side – from plans to enshrine “national preference” in the constitution to its former proximity to Vladimir Putin and now the headscarf ban – is coming to the fore. This prompted Mr Macron to argue that she was still embodying the old racist, xenophobic “extreme right” of her hard-core father and founder of the Jean-Marie National Front. France banned the burqa and other headgear covering the entire face in public in 2010, but the ban does not apply to the hijab as it does not cover the face.
“A general public ban on hijab”
However, Ms. Le Pen has pledged to go further and impose a general public ban on the hijab, which is widely worn in a country of about four to five million Muslims. He called it an “Islamist uniform that I would ban in public places” as part of a broader anti-Islamic fundamentalism law that would also target foreign hate preachers and Salafist mosques. “Not all women wear the veil of Islamists, but many are victims, that is the reality,” she said last week. Prior to last Sunday’s first round of voting, she had kept the proposal in the back, even taking a selfie with a 15-year-old in a veil to carry home her message that she has nothing against Islam – unlike Eric’s nationalist opponent. Zemmour – only Islam. After this point, Ms. Benmalek said, “If she’s against the veil, why take selfies with veiled women?” Mrs Lepen’s blurred posture has confused her own camp. A strong supporter of Le Pen, Robert Menard, the mayor of Beziers, called the ban “a mistake” that was “impossible to impose”. She told BFMTV on Friday that a “veil ban is necessary” only to add that it was not “the most fundamental and urgent part” of her planned law.
