Lagging behind Macron in the latest opinion polls, Le Pen campaigned in her stronghold of northern France in a last-ditch effort to try to close the gap.
In a bid to seduce working-class voters and electors who cast some 7.7 million votes for leftist candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the first round, Macron has watered down a campaign pledge to raise the retirement age in France to 65 by 2030.