France: Paris Attack Shakes up Presidential Race

France is once again picking up the pieces after another terrorist attack shocked the country – this one just days before polls open for the first round of its presidential election. Late April 20, a man opened fire on policemen on the Champs-Elysees in downtown Paris, leaving one policeman dead and two others seriously wounded. The assailant, a 39-year-old French national who lived in a town east of Paris, was shot dead by police. Hours later, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack. French police are reportedly searching for a possible accomplice who is believed to have arrived in the country from Belgium shortly before the shootings. Earlier in the week, two men were arrested in Marseille on suspicion of planning an attack ahead of the vote.
The incident happened as the 11 presidential candidates were participating in the final TV debate before the April 23 election. Three of the main candidates, nationalist Marine Le Pen, centrist Emmanuel Macron and conservative Francois Fillon, said they would suspend their campaign events scheduled for April 21. Other candidates, including left-wing Jean-Luc Melenchon, pledged to continue on as normal as a show of defiance against terrorism. French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on April 21 that the elections would not be suspended because of the attack. He also announced that more than 50,000 policemen and gendarmes and 7,000 soldiers will be mobilized to ensure the security of the vote.

This post was published at FinancialSense on 04/21/2017.