Thursday’s gun attack in Paris that left one policeman dead and two others injured came only days before the French elections are set to begin and brought an abrupt end to campaigning by some of the candidates. Four of the five candidates canceled all events scheduled for Friday and instead made televised statements sketching out their policies to fight terrorism.
It’s not known what effect the attack will have on the elections, but there are already several theories. It was reported that the suspect in the attack was being monitored by French intelligence, which would seem to help Marin Le Pen, the far-right, anti-immigrant candidate, but French prosecutors later confirmed that the suspect was not officially on the surveillance list that tracks people who may have been radicalized. According to CNN sources, the stakes of this election are so high that the latest attack won’t dissuade people from heading to the polls.
However, one person betting on the attack possibly swaying the election is President Donald Trump who tweeted it would have a “big effect” on the results.
Another terrorist attack in Paris. The people of France will not take much more of this. Will have a big effect on presidential election!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 21, 2017
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack hours after the gunman was killed while attempting to escape.
(Via Bloomberg, CNN, New York Times)