French conservative Pecresse backs Macron for runoff vote

French conservative presidential candidate Valerie Pecresse said on Sunday that she would vote for incumbent Emmanuel Macron in an April 24 runoff vote after falling far short of qualifying herself. Pecresse's poor showing in the first round of voting is a major blow for the Republicains party that was once one of France's dominant political forces, producing presidents Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy.

French conservative presidential candidate Valerie Pecresse said on Sunday that she would vote for incumbent Emmanuel Macron in an April 24 runoff vote after falling far short of qualifying herself.

Pecresse's poor showing in the first round of voting is a major blow for the Republicains party that was once one of France's dominant political forces, producing presidents Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy. With less than 5% of the first-round vote, she trailed in fifth place far behind Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who both qualified for the runoff vote.

"(Le Pen's) historical proximity with Vladimir Putin discredits her from defending the interests of our country in these tragic times," Pecresse told her supporters. "Her election would mean that France would become irrelevant on the European and international scenes. Therefore, and despite my strong disagreement with Macron ...I will vote for him in order to stop Marine Le Pen," Pecresse added.

None of the activists that Reuters spoke to afterwards said they would vote for Le Pen and that the party would regroup for legislative elections in June. The party has struggled to remain politically relevant since Macron became president in 2017 in part because many of his economic policies overlap with theirs.

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