The latest poll in France has shown hard-right National Rally (RN) heavyweight Marine Le Pen leading the race for the next French presidential elections.
The poll, published on December 11 and commissioned by Figaro Magazine, was conducted following the ousting of the French prime minister Michel Barnier on December 5.
It showed Le Pen remained the strongest contestant for the next French ballot, officially due in April, 2027.
The poll revealed the de facto leader of (RN) ahead of her opponent with around 36 per cent forecast for the first round of the presidential election. That would allow her to move on to the second round of the two-part ballot.
According to Fréderic Dabi, director general of the polling agency Ifop, which conducted the study, Le Pen is has even improved her standing in public opinion.
“She has gained two points compared to the same survey in September”, he pointed out.
According to Dabi, Le Pen is at almost the same level as the then-Socialist presidential candidate François Mitterand in 1974.
The poll also indicated that Le Pen’s decision to topple the previous French prime minister and her alleged embezzlement of EU funds did not negatively impact on her political position in the case of a presidential election.
Marine Le Pen faces potential prison time and a ban from public office for alleged embezzlement of EU funds. https://t.co/qrB2xAfckv
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) November 14, 2024
In 1974, Mitterand passed the first round with 43,3 per cent but lost in the second round with 49,19 per cent of the vote against Conservative Valerie Giscard d’Estaing.
In the event of Le Pen’s being rendered ineligible to stand if found guilty after her corruption trial, official RN leader Jordan Bardella would obtain a slightly lower score, according to the poll.
But RN remained the top party, as the poll showed Bardella would win 34 per cent of the vote against the centre-right former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, now mayor of Le Havre and founder of the political party Horizons. He announced earlier this year he was running for the presidency.
On the other side of the political spectrum the French Left is apparently in chaos.
The poll assumed a left-wing split between several candidates; hard-left leader of La France Insoumise (LFI) Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Socialist Olivier Faure or former president François Hollande, The Greens’ Marine Tondelier and Communist Fabien Roussel.
Out of multiple left-wing candidates, Mélenchon remained the strongest candidate among them in the poll but would only garner 12 per cent of the vote.
In the event of just one left-wing candidate, the French Left would not muster more than 25 per cent, the poll showed.
Although the election is set to take place in 2027, the Left and the Right have called on President Emmanuel Macron to resign in light of France’s political chaos and a deadlocked parliament.
Macron has previously announced that he intended to remain to the end of his presidential term but as France’s political disarray worsens whether he can or not remains uncertain.
