Interview: Paris shooting may trigger "burst of citizen mobilization" as voting looms: expert

The attack targeting police officers on Thursday in Paris' Champs-Elysees avenue may provoke "a burst of citizen mobilization and revive the spirit of January 2015," Madani Cheurfa, secretary-general of the Political Research Center of Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po) has said.

"Like in January 2015 when a 'Charlie' effect had generated a strong citizens mobilization, it's possible that the attack (of Thursday) provokes a massive reaction of the French and therefore, doubtless, these undecided voters end their uncertainty at a time when they thought they would not vote," Cheurfa told Xinhua in an interview on Friday.

On Thursday evening, a man armed with an automatic riffle shot dead a police man and wounded two others before being killed.

The suspect had "deliberately targeted" police officer in an assault claimed by the Islamic State (IS), according to French authorities.

A second possible impact of the Champs-Elysees shooting is that "security resurfaces on the agenda of political and public agendas", which could possibly give "a some extra but little points" to candidates such as conservative Francois Fillon and Marine Le Pen, far-right National Front (FN) party representative in presidency race, according to the expert.

Cheurfa insisted that the attack eventual effect could improve some candidates' scores by "a few points" because "all the candidates except for two extreme left, Philippe Poutou (NPA) and Nathalie Arthaud (Lutte Ouvriere), expressed clearly and without difficulty, on several occasions, on the fight against terrorism."

"There is no left-right divide on this subject, the only difference between candidates is in the degree of the means implemented on the ground," he said.

However, these "few points are even so important given the four candidates scores are "very tight," he noted.

"We are in a terrorist alert cycle, two men have already been arrested suspected on preparing an attack on one of the presidential candidates in Marseille, and with the one (in the Champs-Elysees), we are in a campaign dominating by insecurity (issues) and we knew this probable threat," he said.

An Odoxa survey for Le Point magazine released on Friday showed that "the events of Thursday evening have benefited only the FN candidate...On the contrary, it had only a marginal but rather bearish effect for each of the other three candidates."

According to the survey, 24.5 percent of the respondents said they would vote for centrist Emmanuel Macron, down by half a point from a previous poll.

Second comes Le Pen, improved her score by one percentage point to 23 percent.

Conservative Francois Fillon and far-left Jean-Luc Melenchon were both at 19 percent, down 0.5 percentage points.

A total of 11 candidates are competing for the French presidency this year.

The first round of votes will kick off on Sunday, and a second will be held for the top two candidates on May 7 if no one is able to receive 50 percent of the votes. Endit