Will Hillary's scenario repeat itself with Macron?

Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen said on May 5 she believed she could win a surprise victory in the second round of the French presidential election while her rival Emmanuel Macron fell victim to a cyber attack.

Win or lose, "we have changed everything," Ms. Le Pen said in an interview with the Associated Press in the final hours of the race. She claimed an "ideological victory" for her populist, anti-immigration views in an election that could change the direction of Europe.

Will Ms. Le Pen or Mr. Macron become French president? (Photo: Express)

Ms. Le Pen's statement was made after Mr. Emmanuel Macron's campaign (En Marche Movement party) announced late on May 5 that they were "victims" of a large-scale cyber attack, leading to the leak of campaign financial records and emails.

In a statement, En Marche said it had been hacked several weeks ago and that the leaked files had been mixed with fake documents, "sowing doubt, disinformation" and destabilizing the presidential election on May 7.

They also called it an attempt to "undermine democracy, just like in the US election campaign". US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton suffered a similar leak and also said genuine documents were mixed with fake ones.

French presidential candidates suspended their campaigning on the evening of May 5 to give voters a day to think before the election. They will have to choose between Ms. Le Pen's anti-immigration, anti-European Union (EU) stance or Mr. Macron's progressive, pro-EU stance.

However, tensions took a toll on the race in the final minutes.

The French presidential election watchdog called on the Interior Ministry on Thursday evening to look into claims from Ms Le Pen's campaign that ballots were being forged nationwide to benefit Mr Macron. The far-right candidate's campaign also claimed that Ms Le Pen's ballots, which were distributed to election administrators, were "systematically torn" in some areas.

Ms Le Pen, 48, is taking her far-right National Front party closer than ever to the French presidency as it taps into growing frustration with globalization and immigration among working-class voters. Even if she loses, she looks set to become a powerful opposition figure in French politics in the upcoming parliamentary election campaign.

"Even if we don't achieve our goals, in any event a huge political force is born," she told the Associated Press at her campaign headquarters. The National Front "has imposed a reform" on French politics and made its voice heard in the election, she asserted.

Meanwhile, candidate Macron (39 years old) also played an important role in improving France's traditional political structure with his wild promotional campaign.

Voters swept aside the left-wing and right-wing parties that have dominated modern France to choose Mr Macron and Ms Le Pen in the first round of voting.

But there are also many voters who dislike both candidates. They are concerned about the racist past of Ms. Le Pen’s National Front party, while worrying that Mr. Macron’s views will cause French workers to lose many of their rights.

According to Vietnamnet.vn