Macron appeals to 'stigmatized' suburbs in election push

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French President Emmanuel Macron appealed Thursday to "stigmatized" young people in the country's multi-racial suburbs in the days leading to the election that will determine his political future in France and end his election campaign, which he described as "unbearable" for many due to his flagrant anti-immigrant rhetoric.

Macron faces far-right rival Marine Le Pen in a run-off vote on Sunday. The duel set to take place between the top two candidates is likely to be far tighter than the run-off between the two five years ago in 2017 when Macron took the lead and became President with 66% of the vote, though recent polls show him to be ahead of his opponent.

The incumbent president, in a bid to win over voters living in low-income suburbs that voted heavily for an eliminated left-wing candidate, spent his afternoon greeting people in Seine-Saint-Denis, as their votes are pivotal for him to win in the election, though a simple "Salut!" might not be enough to convince them to cast their ballots in his favor.

Voters in the district northeast of Paris had frantically voted for him in 2017, though they appear to be less enthusiastic about the centrist candidate.

"My first message is to say to the residents of all our working-class areas that they are a chance for the republic," Macron told reporters.  

"Over the last few months we've stigmatized people from working-class areas, lowering our debate, opposing and sometimes dividing our society," he added. 

The electorate Macron is trying to have vote for him had been marginalized by his former opponent, far-right candidate Eric Zemmour, who called Seine-Saint-Denis, mainland France's poorest and most ethnically diverse region, a "foreign enclave", marginalizing its people.

The French journalist that was more radical than the far-right Le Pen had also called Islam "incompatible with the republic", promising to bring in a law obliging parents to give their children French-sounding first names, which would have been devastating for foreign cultures within France.

Zemmour scored quite badly in the first round of the election on April 10, coming in fourth place with around 7% of the votes.

Seine-Saint-Denis was very much in favor of leftist candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, who was also eliminated in the first round of the elections, finishing in third place with more than 20% of the vote. He had won 37 out of 40 districts in the region, with an average of 49% of the vote.

Melenchon coming in third place and being out of the race could mean tens of millions of votes will go for Macron because regardless of his views, the French left will still perceive him as more moderate than his far-right opponent.

The president has so far garnered support from several opponents, mainly left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, who came in third place and called on his supporters and the French public to pivot away from the extremist.

"We know who we will never vote for... Not a single vote must go to Mrs. Le Pen," Melenchon said at his party headquarters in Paris, though he did not explicitly ask for his supporters to back the incumbent president.

Another boost for the President also came from his other opponents. Communist Party candidate Fabien Roussel, Socialist Anne Hidalgo, Yannick Jadot of the Greens, and right-wing Republican candidate Valerie Pecresse said they would vote for him to prevent the far-right leader from coming to power.

Only fellow far-right candidate Eric Zemmour voiced support for his counterpart that will be making it to the runoff election, when he urged his supporters to vote for Marine Le Pen on April 24.