Obama: Phone call with French candidate wasn’t an endorsement

Former President Obama’s call to French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron was not meant as an endorsement, an Obama spokesman said Thursday.

The former president spoke by phone with Macron on Thursday morning, Kevin Lewis said in a statement.

“President Obama appreciated the opportunity to hear from Mr. Macron about his campaign and the important upcoming presidential election in France, a country that President Obama remains deeply committed to as a close ally of the United States, and as a leader on behalf of liberal values in Europe and around the world,” Lewis added.

{mosads}”An endorsement was not the purpose of the call, as President Obama is not making any formal endorsement in advance of the run-off election on Sunday.”

French voters will head to the polls Sunday to vote for the country’s next president. There will then be a second runoff election in May between the top two candidates.

Polls done in advance of the first round of voting show Macron and challenger Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s far-right National Front Party, with a slight edge, according to The Washington Post.