On several counts, Emmanuel Macron is a political oddity in the stagnant world of French politics: he is young (39), he worked in the private sector before becoming François Hollande’s economic adviser at the Elysée palace. His political rise from there was meteoric: within two years, he had been appointed minister of the economy. From an ideological viewpoint, he is also a highly unusual politician. Macron unashamedly embraces both poles of liberalism: the economic and the political/cultural ones.

The French left, although broadly liberal on cultural issues, would never use the terminology positively. In the left psyche, liberalism is about unbridled capitalism, and therefore propels images of the dismantling of the social state. The presidential hopeful has no qualms about that: he presents himself as “doubly liberal” – economically and politically – a rarity in French politics.

In his speeches, Macron equates liberalism with “movement”, which is synonymous with “change” or “reform”. His new party, called En Marche! (Forward!), launched in April 2016 and already has 120,000 members, an impressive figure in the context of French party politics. Despite no prior experience as a public speaker, Macron’s campaign is steadily taking off. His political rallies draw large audiences of essentially middle-class and young, educated voters.

After deriding Macron in the first instance, both left and right are starting to seriously worry about him. For the governing Parti Socialiste (PS), the stakes are high: after François Hollande’s withdrawal from the race, the PS has had to hastily organise a primary election to nominate a candidate. No matter who it proves to be, each contender is predicted the fifth place in the presidential polls, an extraordinary situation for the main party on the left.

The next few weeks will be decisive: if the PS campaign fails to mobilise its supporters and if election prospects remain poor for its candidate, some party officials and members will be tempted to jump ship and rally around the Macron campaign. Socialist figures such as Gérard Collomb, the mayor of Lyon, are already publicly supporting Macron. This would inflict a lethal blow to François Mitterrand’s old party, which would disintegrate. Macron is cementing his position as the election’s “third man”. He offers an option to disenfranchised moderate voters, who neither want to vote for the socialist candidate nor for François Fillon.

Macron offers an option to moderate voters, who neither want to vote for the socialist candidate nor for François Fillon

On the campaign trail, it seems at times that the self-promotion of Macron’s youth is a more important asset than his elusive policy proposals. His economic programme remains to date elusive but is marked by a clear neoliberal orientation. On important issues such as the 35-hour working week, pensions, education or taxation, Macron suggests “deregulating” and proposes “à la carte systems” to voters. This is in line with some of the reforms that he implemented as minister of the economy, notably the 2015 law on economic growth and activity. The bill includes a patchwork of measures, such as permission for more stores to open on Sundays, and provisions to reduce workplace protection.

The left and trade unions consider that he is a “rightwinger”, and the right describe him as a “shallow” and “fake” politician. Martine Aubry, a former PS leader and architect of the 35-hour working week reform that Macron wants to dismantle, declared that she was “fed up with Macron”. Marine Le Pen also foresees danger. She has argued that Macron was “the bankers’ candidate”, and she may have a point: before entering the political arena, Macron was an investment banker with Rothschild. While working for the company, he was behind a high-profile deal between Nestlé and Pfizer that made him a millionaire. Yet Macron astonishingly portrays himself as an “anti-system” candidate in a struggle with all “types of corporatist and conservative powers”. This is an audacious claim from someone who is a media favourite and who has close connections with business circles.

In true Fifth Republic fashion, Macron is leading a very personalised campaign and is travelling across the country “to meet with the nation”. He has shunned traditional political parties and refused to take part in the centre-left primary election. What’s more, he argues that traditional left/right politics is now obsolete. Although Macron does not explicitly pitch the people v the elites, his rhetoric and positioning bear all the marks of populism.

Macron’s is an unusual brand of “centrist populism” (as opposed to Le Pen’s far-right populism). Rightwing populism traditionally targets foreigners and migrants, whereas leftwing populism concentrates on the rich. Macron’s centrist populism lectures people who resist his neoliberal reforms.

Emmanuel Macron will not be able to fool the public for much longer: his “anti-system” stand is a sham. His ideas are totally embedded in a failed economic system that he supported when he was in government. Yet he may still pull off a major upset in the spring: French voters are in the mood for kicking out the discredited old hands of French politics. Macron, although a man of the system, is not perceived as one of them.