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.”
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