French centrist Emmanuel Macron sought to cement his frontrunner status Friday on the last day of campaigning for the weekend's election run-off after a bruising and divisive race. Pro-European Macron and far-right anti-immigration candidate Marine Le Pen have offered starkly different visions for France during a campaign that has been closely watched in Europe and the rest of the world.
At the end of a battle that has only increased in intensity in the final days, both candidates made final campaign appearances and toured radio and TV stations.
Macron was visiting the southwest city of Rodez while Le Pen headed for Reims in northern France as they sought to win over voters before Sunday's run-off.
Polls showed that 39-year-old former investment banker Macron has stretched his lead over Le Pen to 22 points after he was seen to have emerged the strongest from a bad-tempered TV debate on Wednesday.
Macron said he had already chosen the name of his future prime minister -- but even the person concerned had not been informed.
"Yes, this choice has been made 'in petto'," he told Europe 1 radio, using an Italian expression meaning "in my heart".
Macron said he would only announce his choice after he took over from President Francois Hollande, if he wins.
"I will not announce it before," he said.
Le Pen has said she would appoint eurosceptic ally Nicolas Dupont-Aignan -- who was knocked out in the first round of the presidential election -- as her premier if she wins.
- Eiffel Tower security breach -
In a major security breach, Greenpeace activists partially scaled the Eiffel Tower in Paris to hang a giant anti-Le Pen banner saying "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" and "#resist".
The Paris police department said Friday's protest had exposed "flaws" in the security of the world-renowned monument that needed to be addressed.
It came at the end of a campaign in which Le Pen sees her rise as the consequence of growing right-wing nationalism and a backlash against globalisation reflected in the election of Donald Trump in the United States and Britain's shock vote to leave the European Union.
Le Pen has said she wants to copy Britain's example of holding a referendum on France's EU membership, sending alarm bells ringing in Brussels.
She has sought to soften the image of her National Front party over the past six years -- but without fully banishing doubts about the party's core beliefs.
Le Pen has tried to portray Macron as being soft on Islamic fundamentalism, playing to the concerns of many of her supporters after a string of terror attacks in France that have killed more than 230 people since 2015.
Although polls show her slipping, she told supporters Thursday she would sweep to power.
"France cannot wait five more years to hold its head high," she said in the northern village of Ennemain.
- 'Fake news' -
Macron's campaign team said rumours he has an offshore account in the Bahamas -- which he strongly denies -- were spread on Twitter by accounts close to Kremlin-friendly news sites like Sputnik and RT as well as Trump supporters.
Le Pen repeated the rumours in the TV debate.
Macron's campaign team called it a "textbook case" of "fake news" and has filed a legal complaint and threatened to sue anyone who repeats the claim. Prosecutors are investigating.
Meanwhile, Macron won high-profile backing from former US president Barack Obama, who said in a video posted on the candidate's website that he "appeals to people's hopes and not their fears".
Obama said Macron had "put forward a vision for the important role that France plays in Europe and around the world" and added "Vive la France!"
In the first round of the election on April 23, Macron scored 24 percent with Le Pen second on 21.3 percent.
The election has seen the main left and right-wing forces in French politics sidelined, as candidates from outside the mainstream parties have profited.
Poster Comment:
Le Pen should be greatly helped by the Obama endorsement of her left-wing opponent.
Riots in the streets of Paris. Tens of thousands of burned cars. No-go zones. Streets full of mattresses and shanty towns. Regular mass slaughter [Charlie Hebdo, Paris nightclub, Nice, on and on]. All committed by whom? And the Frogs still can't see past their snooty noses.
