Anti-immigration presidential candidate could see boost after Paris attack
PARIS — A terror attack three day before France's presidential election left voters on edge, a mood that could boost far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, who wants to crack down on immigration.
"We would like to believe there will be no impact on Sunday's elections, but while in the voting booth, when the moment comes to cast the ballot in the box, I think it will have a subliminal psychological impact on some people," said Alexis Madelenat, 42, a tech senior executive in Paris.
Le Pen and Republican candidate François Fillon, both strong anti-terrorism candidates, "will benefit from this," said Madelenat, who said he favors independent candidate Emmanuel Macron, a centrist who held a narrow lead over Le Pen and Fillon in recent polls.
The top two vote-getters Sunday will compete in a runoff May 7 to replace Socialist President François Hollande, who is not running for re-election. His approval rating is low because of the country's high unemployment and the government's inability to thwart terror attacks over the past 18 months.
Thursday, a French national identified by news outlets as Karim Cheurfi, 39, fatally shot one police officer and wounded two others and a bystander on the famed Champs-Elysees in central Paris before he was killed by police. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.
Cheurfi had been detained this year for threatening a police officer but was released for lack of evidence, the French newspaper Le Monde reported.
As news of the evening attack on the iconic boulevard spread, the presidential candidates suspended their campaigns, and the government said it would heighten security Sunday.
Read more:
Reports: Paris attacker was arrested for plotting to kill police
Most recent terror attacks in Europe
French election: Closer look at top 5 presidential contenders
"Nothing must hamper this (vote)," Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Friday after a meeting to examine the government's already-heightened security plans, which include almost 60,000 police and soldiers.
"Barbarity and cowardice struck Paris last night," he said. "We must not succumb to fear."
Yet fear — and demands for a solution to end the terror attacks — may decide the election's outcome.
President Trump tweeted Friday, "Another terrorist attack in Paris. The people of France will not take much more of this. Will have a big effect on presidential election!"
Le Pen, leader of the National Front, may be the biggest beneficiary because she has called for restrictions on Muslim immigration and expulsion of those suspected of radical Islamist views.
"Enough of being lax, time to stop being naive," she said on French radio RFI Friday. She assailed “radical Islam,” calling it “a monstrous, totalitarian ideology that has declared war on our nation, on reason, on civilization.”
Le Pen wants to pull France out of the European Union and close the country's borders to new immigrants.
Prime Minister Cazeneuve rebuked Le Pen for seeking "without shame, to exploit fear and emotions for purely political ends."
Fillon, a former prime minister who had been the front-runner in the election before a scandal involving alleged phantom government jobs for his family, said he would continue a state of emergency instituted in 2015 and crack down on extremism. "The fight for the French people's freedom and security will be mine," he said.
Macron said he is the candidate to lead France at this anxious time. "The terrorists' will is to destabilize the country," he said. "In such circumstances, the role of the president of the republic as the army chief and guardian of our institutions is to protect the French. I am ready."
France has experienced three major terror attacks since November 2015, when coordinated assaults in Paris left 130 dead.
"The question of terrorism will surge back strongly in the motivation for the voters," said political analyst Guillaume Tabard in Paris.
Terrorism "is a matter that has a strong emotional dimension, so it will impact not only the brain but also the heart of the voters," he said.
Some voters said it is impossible to ignore the threat. "It's revolting and very, very worrisome," said Valerie Girard, a National Front supporter. "People are afraid. There is a climate of fear."
Terrorists "desire to bring chaos during the presidential elections, they want to bring chaos to the whole country," Girard said.