PARIS, April 13 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron launched a scathing attack on far-right rival Marine Le Pen on Wednesday, saying her true "authoritarian" intentions were showing after she banned a team of reporters and did not rule out a return to the death penalty.
Macron, a pro-European centrist, became president in 2017 after easily beating Le Pen when voters rallied behind him to keep the far-right out of power. This time, he is facing a much tougher challenge.
He is slightly ahead in polls, but Le Pen has successfully tapped into anger over the cost of living and a perception that Macron is disconnected from everyday hardships and some polls show her victory in the April 24 runoff is within the margin of error.
Criticised for not properly campaigning in the run-up to the first round, Macron has changed tack and headed to areas where people voted against him to engage and adopted a more aggressive rhetoric towards his rival.
He has categorised Le Pen's manifesto as full of lies and false promises that conceal a far-right agenda that ultimately would lead to France's exit from the European Union.
"Despite all the efforts, the true face of the far-right is coming back. It is a face that doesn't respect freedoms, the constitutional framework, press independence, and fundamental freedoms, rights," Macron told France 2 television.
Le Pen said on Tuesday that the show whose journalists were refused accreditation was entertainment rather than journalism and that she reserved the right - now as a candidate, and later as president if elected - to choose who can come to her news conferences.
Such comments are the start of an "authoritarian drift," Macron said.
Le Pen, who has made a concerted push to detoxify her party's image, retorted that Macron was showing his "weakness" and was in no position to give lessons on how to handle the press.
Macron has had a bumpy relationship with the media during his presidency and last week was criticised for refusing to take part in several prime time shows ahead of the first round.
"He'd be better off going into the substance of my project. It is known, transparent. We can discuss it and argue over our disagreements," Le Pen said during a campaign stop outside of Paris.
FREXIT?
Later on Wednesday, Le Pen gave a news conference on her foreign policy plans, which she said was aimed at clearing up "misunderstandings."
A Le Pen victory would see a deep eurosceptic who had long professed admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin take the helm of the EU's second-biggest economy.
"Nobody is against Europe," said Le Pen, who has ditched plans to leave the EU or the euro, which cost her votes in past elections.
She said she aimed to reform the EU from the inside, in what critics say would be a "Frexit" departure from the bloc in all but name.
LEFTWING VOTES
Ahead of the second round, both candidates are seeking to win over left-wing voters, especially from hard-left third-placed candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon.
Melenchon's party launched a consultation on Wednesday to ask his supporters if they plan to vote for Macron, put in a blank ballot or not vote.
"Neither Emmanuel Macron nor Marine Le Pen are up to the task," Melenchon wrote. "However, the two are not equivalent. Marine Le Pen adds a dangerous ferment of ethnic and religious exclusion to the project of social damage that she shares with Emmanuel Macron."
He made clear, however, that, even after the consultation closes on Saturday, he will give voters no instruction on what they should do on the 24th - whereas other parties have urged voters to back Macron in order to block the far-right.
Macron's charm offensive with leftwing voters could be hurt after former conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy, a reviled figure on the left, endorsed him, which forced Macron to deny that there was any wider political agreement.
Macron will need a new majority after legislative elections in June and political sources have said Sarkozy's endorsement could pave the way for an alliance between the centre-right Les Republicains party and Macron's LaRem.
