Former US president Barack Obama has expressed support for French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron in a video distributed by Mr Macron’s camp, saying “the success of France matters to the entire world”.
Mr Macron, a centrist, faces Marine Le Pen of the far-right Front National in a runoff vote on Sunday. Polls put him 20 points ahead.
The former US president said he had chosen to declare his support, in a video tweeted by Mr Macron on Thursday afternoon, because of the importance of the election.
“I’m not planning to get involved in many elections now that I don’t have to run for office but the French election is very important to the future of France and the values that we care so much about.”
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He said he supported Mr Macron because he appealed to “people’s hopes and not their fears” and ended, in French, with the words “Vive la France.”
Agencies