Russian invasion of Ukraine upends French presidential campaign

Incumbent French president, chairman of the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU and lead European negotiator in the weeks that led up to the Russian invasion... Emmanuel Macron is a busy man. So busy, in fact, that he still hasn't announced his bid for a second term. With war raging in Ukraine, the president even had to cut short a wine and food tasting at the annual French farming show and cancel a planned rally this coming weekend in Marseille.

But all these efforts seem to be paying off. Support for Macron has risen to its highest level yet in polling intentions for the first round of the presidential election. We take a look at how the Russian invasion of Ukraine has put Macron's far-right rivals on the backfoot, forcing the usually Russophile Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour to justify their past support for Vladimir Putin.

We also focus on a very French political concept: "parrainages". In order to be eligible to stand in April's election, candidates have to gather the signatures of at least 500 elected officials before a specific date. As the deadline looms, some key candidates are still struggling to get backers.

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