Race tightens in France for runoff vote
法国大选进入决选，战况愈加胶着
First-round result leaves Macron with battle to keep presidency from Le Pen
首轮选举之后，马克龙将与勒庞角逐总统
French President Emmanuel Macron will face off with far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in a runoff of the presidential election on April 24 following Sunday's first round of voting, but the race will be tighter than many had expected.
在周日的首轮投票之后，现任法国总统埃马纽埃尔·马克龙将在4月24日的总统决选对战极右翼政党候选人玛丽娜·勒庞，但是竞选会比许多人想得更为胶着。
Macron won 27.6 percent of the votes while Le Pen obtained 23.4 percent in the first round on Sunday that featured 12 candidates, according to the French Interior Ministry.
根据法国内政部数据，参加总统选举第一轮角逐的12名候选人中，马克龙得票率为27.6 %，勒庞得票率为23.4%。
Far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon came in third with 22 percent. But according to the rules, only the top two candidates go to the runoff.
极左翼政党候选人让-吕克·梅朗雄得票率为22%，排第三，但根据规则只有得票率前两名的候选人才能进入决选。
Macron started his reelection campaign only two weeks ago, much later than Le Pen and other candidates believing he would have an easy win. His presidency since 2017 has been marred by the massive Yellow Vest movement starting in late 2018 when people voiced their grievances about hardships in their daily lives, especially with rising living costs.
马克龙在两周前才开始连任竞选活动，比勒庞及其他候选人晚许多，其他候选人认为马克龙可以轻松赢得选举。自从2017年担任法国总统以来，其执政深受于2018年底开始的大规模“黄背心”运动之困。当时法国人民对于其日常生活的困苦进行抗议，尤其是随着生活成本上升。
Le Pen, who lost to Macron in the 2017 runoff, has campaigned hard by focusing on daily life issues such as inflation and incomes. She has softened her views on a number of issues in a bid to attract more conservative voters. She has also pushed to cut value-added tax on basic foodstuffs and bring forward the retirement age to attract some left-wing voters.
勒庞曾在2017年总统决选中输给马克龙，在此次竞选活动中，她开足马力，将重心放在诸如通货膨胀和收入等民生问题上。为吸引更多的保守选民，她也弱化了在许多问题上的立场。她也主张削减基本食物的增值税，提前退休年龄，以吸引一些左翼选民。
A final debate on April 20 before the second-round vote will provide the two candidates an opportunity to convince nearly half of the French voters who didn't vote for them in the first round.
在第二轮投票之前，4月20日将举行最后一场辩论，两位候选人将有机会争取在一轮投票中将近一半未支持他们的选民的选票。
Both sides will rev up their campaigns in the coming two weeks. Macron was expected to take his campaign to win extra votes to the industrial heartlands of northern France on Monday.
双方将在未来两周开足马力进行竞选活动，马克龙预计将在周一在法国北部工业区进行竞选活动，以赢得更多选票。
The close race is likely to cause huge concern in Washington and Brussels because of Le Pen's views on NATO and the European Union that differ from Macron's, especially during the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
该胶着的总统竞选有可能引起美国和欧盟的巨大关切，因为在北约和欧盟上，尤其在俄罗斯-乌克兰危机期间，勒庞和马克龙持有不同的观点。
Le Pen earlier stated her desire to pull France out of NATO's integrated command structure" so as to be no longer caught up in conflicts that are not ours". France is the only nuclear power and the only permanent member of the United Nations Security Council among the EU's 27 members.
勒庞早期曾表明意愿，使法国退出北约军事一体化机构，“从而法国就不会卷入与自己无关的冲突之中”。法国是欧盟27国中唯一的拥核国家和联合国安理会常任理事国。
While Le Pen's party, the National Rally, is no longer talking about leaving the EU, the Schengen visa-free zone and the euro, she has been widely viewed as a Euroskeptic.
尽管勒庞所属党派“国民阵线”已经不再讨论脱离欧盟、申根免签区和欧元区，勒庞仍被视为“疑欧主义者”。
The presidential election happens to fall during France's presidency of the Council of the European Union, a rotating position that the country occupies for the first six months of this year.
法国总统选举恰逢法国担任欧盟理事会轮值主席国期间，轮值期为今年上半年。
