By Umamah Bakharia 

French presidential candidates, far-right’s Marine Le Pen and current president Emmanuel Macron will be heading for their second duel on 24 April.

The focus on the battle for the French presidential run-off is now turning to international strategy. FRANCE 24’s Clovis Casali says Le Pen has major foreign policy plans in store. The far-right candidate warns against sending any more weapons to Ukraine and is calling for a rapprochement between NATO and Russia once Moscow’s war in Ukraine winds down.

Meanwhile, incumbent Macron says Le Pen’s far-right views are coming to the fore.

Radio Islam unpacks the French elections with french academic and PhD candidate of comparative law at the University of Toulouse in France, Reem Sarah Al-Oon.

“[A few years ago] the far-right use to be ‘taboo’, you would not even debate with them now we expect them to reach the second round even worse we even expect the far-right to win which is extremely concerning,” says Reem Sarah.

Le Pen unveiled her new campaign poster for the second round which shows a smiley photo of her in a bare office setting, with the words “For all French people”.

However, Reem Sarah argues that Le Pens party might appear [as] closer to the people but their foundation is still “she is a racist white supremacist politician.”

Le Pen like Macron has been open about banning the hijab.