Paris mosque urges Muslims to follow ‘path of hope’ by voting Macron

Supporters of Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen wasted no time in canvassing support just a day after the opening round of the presidential election. The Grande Mosque in Paris put out a call to followers to vote “massively” for Macron in May’s run-off.

“Respecting the republican values ​​and the strict application of the principles of secularism, embodies the path of hope and confidence in the spiritual and citizenship of the nation,” read a statement from the mosque, one of the largest in France.

Supporters of Macron have called on the French public to embrace the candidate they believe has the ability to silence the views of the far-right, represented by presidential rival Le Pen and the National Front party.

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Rémi Féraud, mayor of the 10th arrondissement of Paris tweeted that, in the second round, a vote for Macron would help “eliminate the extreme right.”

His sentiments were echoed by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who called on supporters to vote for Macron and “block the extreme right.”

Emmanuel Gregoire‏, secretary of the Socialist Party, warned voters not to take for granted that the favorite Macron would win, any such ideas would be “serious and dangerous.”

President Hollande described Le Pen and the far-right as a “risk for the country,” urging supporters to vote for Macron.

Florian Philippot from Le Pen’s National Front poked fun at Hollande’s comments, asking if he would attend the restaurant La Rotonde with Macron to celebrate their alliance.

Macron was mocked for using the opulent restaurant as the setting for his victory gathering on Sunday.

Members of the National Front have hit out at Macron, claiming he will not be strict on France’s borders and leave the country vulnerable to further terror attacks.

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General secretary of the party Nicolas Bay said his attitude on migrants was “lax”, while vice-president Steeve Briois described him as the “globalist candidate.” 

Some Twitter accounts attempted to drum up support for Le Pen by recycling Hillary Clinton’s hashtag #ImWithHer. The hashtag failed to catch on with accounts that weren’t hiding behind false identities. 

Jean-Marie Le Pen, father of Marine and founder of the National Front, has not commented on the result. On Sunday he shared an image online which shows him attending a voting station.