SAINT-DENIS, FRANCE -- French President Emmanuel Macron visited a multicultural, working-class suburb north of Paris on Thursday to woo leftist voters ahead of Sunday's presidential runoff vote against far-right challenger Marine Le Pen.
Reflecting the vote's wide international influence, the centrist Macron received support Thursday from the centre-left leaders of Germany, Spain and Portugal, who urged French voters to choose him over the nationalist Le Pen. Their appeals came only a day after imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny also spoke up about the French vote, alleging that Le Pen is too closely linked to Russian authorities to become France's next president amid Russia's war on Ukraine.
Macron, who led the first round of voting on April 10 that eliminated 10 other candidates, said he was taking nothing for granted and was seeking broader support.
鈥淣othing is final until the last minute,鈥� Macron said Thursday, as recent opinion polls show a stabilized lead against his rival.
He said he chose to make one of his last campaign stops in a place that 鈥渋s facing many difficulties鈥� in the poorest region of mainland France, the Seine-Saint-Denis, where many residents are immigrants or have immigrant roots.
His visit came after the two rivals clashed bitterly in a televised debate Wednesday, with Macron saying that Le Pen's plan to ban Muslim women in France from wearing headscarves in public would trigger 鈥渃ivil war鈥� in the country, which has the largest Muslim population in Western Europe.
鈥淲e must not get used to the rise of far-right ideas,鈥� Macron said Thursday in front of an ethnically diverse crowd in Saint-Denis.
Le Pen, meanwhile, was speaking with voters in northern France ahead of her final rally Thursday evening in the town of Arras.
鈥淚 think I have all my chances to win. The French will mobilize to put an end to (Macron's) devastating first term,鈥� she said.
Macron did not have an easy task in Saint-Denis, where an overwhelming majority of voters had supported far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, who came in third in the first round of voting and did not make the runoff. One woman told the 44-year-old leader that the presidential runoff, to her, amounting to choosing between 鈥減lague and cholera.鈥�
Macron answered that he was ready change his platform to meet the needs of French voters, 鈥渋ncluding of people who did not vote for me鈥� in the first round.
Pierre Flament, 75-year-old leftist voter, said he will pick Macron's ballot Sunday 鈥渨ith no pleasure.鈥�
Calling Macron 鈥渢he president of the rich,鈥� he said he initially planned to vote blank. But he changed his mind in face of the 鈥渆normous risk鈥� that Le Pen may win. Polls show the far-right figure has significantly narrowed the gap with Macron compared to their previous faceoff five years ago.
鈥淚f I vote Macron, I hope that we can start demonstrating the following day. We will have to take to the streets because Macron's measures will be bad. But if Marine Le Pen wins, we might not even be allowed to demonstrate at all,鈥� he said.
The Socialist mayor of Saint-Denis, along with 14 leftist mayors and the head of the Seine-Saint-Denis region, called this week for people to back Macron in the runoff.
鈥淲ith Marine Le Pen as president of the Republic, Seine-Saint-Denis residents will be the first victims of discrimination,鈥� they wrote, calling her platform 鈥渞acist鈥� and 鈥渁 negation of democracy.鈥�
Le Pen has sought to appeal to voters struggling with surging prices amid the fallout of Russia's war in Ukraine. She says bringing down the cost of living would be her priority if elected.
But she has faced scrutiny over a 9 million euro (US$9.7 million) loan that her party received in 2014 from the First Czech-Russian Bank and her 2017 visit to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin before the French presidential runoff that year.
In a column published Thursday in several European newspapers, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa wrote that Sunday's vote is 鈥渃ritical for France and all and every one of us in Europe.鈥�
鈥淚t's the election between a democratic candidate who believes that France's strength broadens in a powerful and autonomous European Union and an extreme-right candidate who openly sides with those who attack our freedom and democracy, values based on the French ideas of Enlightenment,鈥� the joint comment said without mentioning Macron or Le Pen by name.
Social Democrat Scholz and Socialists Sanchez and Costa wrote that Europe 鈥渋s facing a change of era鈥� due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and that 鈥減opulists and the extreme right鈥� are viewing Putin 鈥渁s an ideological and political model, replicating his chauvinist ideas.鈥�
鈥淭hey have echoed his attacks on minorities and diversity and his goal of nationalist uniformity,鈥� they said. 鈥淲e must not forget that, no matter how much those politicians are now trying to distance themselves from the Russian aggressor.鈥�
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AP Journalists Alexander Turnbull and Oleg Cetinic in Saint-Denis, Thomas Adamson in Paris contributed.
