News / France

Majority of French voters see Le Pen’s party as threat to democracy: Poll

Tuesday, 07 March 2017 9:41 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 07 March 2017 9:41 PM ]

French far-right Front National (FN) party candidate for the presidential election Marine Le Pen gestures during a debate at the French Confederation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (CPME) union's headquarters in Puteaux, near Paris on March 6, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

A majority of French people believe that presidential candidate Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Front (FN) party is a danger to democracy, shows a recent poll.

According to a Kantar Sofres-Onepoint poll published on Tuesday, 58 percent of those who took part were directly against the National Front’s ideas and perceived it as a threat to democracy.

Despite most polls projecting Le Pen’s success in the first round of the upcoming elections, only 19 percent of those in the Kantar poll are in favor of her becoming president.

French presidential election candidate for the En Marche movement Emmanuel Macron poses for a photo session on March 7, 2017 at his campaign headquarters in Paris.

Recent opinion polls suggest that the far-right leader is likely to win the first round of France's election on April 23 with around 27 percent of votes, but would lose in the run-off on May 7 either to centrist and pro-EU Emmanuel Macron or conservative candidate Francois Fillon.

Le Pen, well known for her anti-immigrant rhetoric, became the leader of the party in 2011 and has promised to hold a referendum on France’s exit from the EU.

Read More:

Marine Le Pen vows to hold referendum on leaving EU if elected

She launched her election bid earlier in the month with an anti-Islam stance. She has also noted that if she is elected as president, mosques and places of Islamic teaching will be closed down.

Read More:

Le Pen’s election bid starts with anti-Islam stance

On Tuesday, Le Pen stressed that if she is elected as president but the nation votes to stay in the EU in the referendum, she would resign.

"What would happen if I told voters we must leave and they decided to stay?" she said. "I would quit. What else can I do? My whole project can only be carried out if we get the tools and powers back (from the EU,)" she added.

ON Monday, Outgoing President Francois Hollande said that he would "do everything" in his power to prevent Le Pen from becoming president.

Read More: