On 24 April, the second round of the French presidential election will see incumbent Emmanuel Macron defend his position against far-right challenger Marine Le Pen. This is how the French daily papers analyse the balance of power and the prospects of the two survivors . . .
Centrist daily Le Monde says the crucial task facing Marine Le Pen over the next two weeks is to form a broad anti-Macron coalition.
The far-right National Rally candidate on Sunday night called on "French voters on the right, the left, and elsewhere, whatever their origins," to join her effort to dislodge the incumbent, "and put France back in order".
Shifting from her campaign emphasis on Macron as the man who has disastrously diminished the spending power of the ordinary French man and woman, Le Pen reminded voters that she will defend the French nation and those republican values which are, Le Pen claims, under attack.
"What is at stake," she told her supporters, "is not just a political decision, it's a choice of society, even a choice of civilisation."
Le Pen has improved on her first round performance in 2017, when she got 21.3 percent of votes, against 23.6 percent this time.
Eric Zemmour, the other candidate at the extreme end of the French right wing, who had to settle for just 7 percent of votes, has called on his supporters to rally behind Le Pen.
Combining the figures for Le Pen, Zemmour and the sovereigntist contender Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, the extreme right now has the support of 32 percent of French voters.
Political traditions in ruins
The collapse of the traditional political framework is confirmed by Sunday's vote.
Mainstream conservative candidate Valérie Pécresse collected less than 5 percent, with Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, representing the Socialist Party, getting less than 2 percent.
Right-wing daily Le Figaro gets worked up about a France fractured into "two sharply opposed sociological and cultural blocs".
In place of the historic confrontation between the conservative right and the socialist left, France is now divided between rich and poor. The man who said "the more things change, the more they stay the same" knew what he was talking about.
A number of analysts suggest that the defeat of Pécresse may be the blow which will put a merciful end to the Republican party's long terminal illness.
As for the environment, Green candidate Yannick Jadot managed just 4.7 percent, further proof that the planet will be a burned out shell before French voters risk any personal discomfort to save it.
Mélenchon comes close
Far left contender Jean-Luc Mélenchon came third on Sunday with 22 percent. He has warned that not a single one of his votes should go to Le Pen. Pécresse has said that she will vote Macron in the second round.
Left-leaning daily Libération is harsh in its criticism of Emmanuel Macron, saying he has done more than any president before him to legitimise the far right in France. This, says Libé, has been managed by his undermining of the republican right.
Libération does not offer an explanation of how the Socialist Party, which had a president and a ruling parliamentary majority just five years ago, on Sunday collapsed to 1.7 percent of votes, finishing behind the French Communist Party.
Business paper Les Echos is happy to announce that the second round is already done and dusted.
Emmanuel Macron will, according to an opinion poll carried out on Sunday night, get 54 percent of votes, against 46 percent for Le Pen.
Now we know.
