It s on, the battle for the future of france. translation: don t make a mistake, this isn t over. l the debate we re going to have for the next 15 days is decisive for our country and for europe. a choice of president macron or president le pen. translation: what will| happen on 24 april is not just a vote about conditions, it s a matter of society, even of civilisation. early projections suggest that emmanuel macron is still the favourite with 28% of voters, more than last time around. marine le pen s share of the vote grew to around 23%. it s not as close as some polls had predicted, but this is where the battle really begins. i m impatient.
Over the past few years and especially over the past year, this rebuilding of the western alliance with joe biden, emmanuel macron, and some of the other european leaders. and there s a fear, at least here in washington, dc, for example, that having someone like marine le pen would not onlyjeopardise the direct france us relations, but could further destabilise this very fragile right now western alliance against russia. they ve worked very hard to build it. they managed to get everyone sort of on the same line, ukraine s president zelensky says vladimir putin has not only his country but the entire european project in his sights. he was speaking as the eu re opened its embassy in kyiv
Emmanuel macron appears to have triumphed in the first ballot of the french presidential election, but he ll face stiff competition from marine le pen in the second round. rallies have been held in cities across pakistan to protest against the removal of imran khan from his post as prime minister following a no confidence vote in parliament over the weekend. tens of thousands of people gathered in karachi and lahore, waving torches and flags in the dark and chanting in support of mr khan. a long time rival, shehbaz sharif, is expected to be voted in by parliament to replace him later on monday. so, might imran khan get elected again? a question i put to shamila chaudhary. she is seniorfellow at the think tank new america and is former director for pakistan and afghanistan at the us national security council.
Translation: don t make a mistake, this isn t over. l the debate we re going to have for the next 15 days is decisive for our country and for europe. a choice of president macron or president le pen. translation: what will| happen on 24 april is not just a vote about conditions, it s a matter of society, even of civilisation. early projections suggest that emmanuel macron is still the favourite with 28% of voters, more than last time around. marine le pen s share of the vote grew to around 23%. it s not as close as some polls had predicted, but this is where the battle really begins. i m impatient. a little bit nervous always, simply because you don t know what france will choose.
The question is, how are they going to try and address these two elements? emmanuel macron is going to have to come back to the domestic campaign, try to explain to those who did not vote for him why they should vote for emmanuel macron and not just stay home or vote for marine le pen. meanwhile, marine le pen is going to have to face may be a little more than she has so far the foreign policy aspect of it. emmanuel macron is likely going to be using some of her past comments about a vladimir putin, about russia, her proximity to russia against her, given the situation in europe right now. i want to pick up on all those points. butjust before, emmanuel macron has been criticised in the past for being the leader of paris, not france, was see trends turning against globalisation and america in europe, something associated with emmanuel