© PASCAL ROSSIGNOL/REUTERS Marine Le Pen waves to supporters at the end of a political rally in Lille, France on Sunday.
French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen told a rally on Sunday, promising to shield France from globalisation as she sought to fire up her supporters in the final four weeks before voting gets underway.
Buoyed by the unexpected election of Donald Trump in the United States and by Britain's vote to leave the EU, the leader of the eurosceptic and anti-immigrant National Front (FN) party, told the rally in Lille that the
French election would be the next step in what she called a global rebellion of the people."The European Union will die because the
people do not want it anymore ...
arrogant and hegemonic empires are destined to perish," Le Pen said to loud cheers and applause. "The time has come to defeat globalists," she said, accusing her main rivals, centrist Emmanuel Macron and conservative Francois Fillon, of "treason" for their pro-EU, pro-market policies.
Opinion polls forecast that Le Pen will do well in the April 23 first round of the presidential election only to lose the May 7 run-off to Macron. But the
high number of undecided voters means the outcome remains unpredictable and motivating people to go to the polling stations will be key for the top candidates.
Its opposition to the EU and the euro currency underlines an
anti-establishment stance that pleases the FN's grassroots supporters and
attracts voters angry with globalisation. But it is also likely to be an obstacle to power in a country where
a majority oppose a return to the franc.
Comment: Iran has found a dozen new oil fields that could produce 30 billion barrels of crude and 128 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
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