French National Front leader Marine Le Pen on Sunday accused the media of “campaigning hysterically” in favor of Emmanuel Macron, her centrist rival for the presidency, as polls showed him enjoying a jump in support.
Le Pen, speaking at a rally in the western city of Nantes, launched a series of attacks on the 39-year-old independent who has emerged as a front-runner to become the next president.
She accused the former minister of the economy of wanting to create a “migrant motorway” between France and north Africa, adding that “financial interests and their intermediaries in the media” had clearly taken his side.
Photo: AP
In an attack that recalled US President Donald Trump’s confrontation with journalists, she added: “The media have chosen their candidate. They are campaigning hysterically for their darling.”
“They take the moral high ground, pretend to only analyze the facts and then shout about the freedom of the press as soon as you criticize them,” she said to cheers.
Two polls published on Sunday showed Le Pen still winning the first round of the election to be held on April 23 with 27 percent, but Macron is closing the gap on her with 25 percent.
In the run-off vote set for May 7, despite her belief that Trump’s victory and Brexit point to a revival of nationalism and anti-elite movements like hers, Le Pen would lose by 20 points to Macron if it were held today, the polls said.
Analysts urge caution about making firm forecasts, after a series of political shocks in Western democracies in the past year and a string of surprises in French politics.
The new polling was done immediately after Macron sealed an electoral alliance with fellow centrist Francois Bayrou on Wednesday — removing a potential rival just as increasing numbers of backers from the Socialist party and the center-right are also trickling in.
Meanwhile, Communist-backed candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon ruled out striking a similar deal with Socialist Benoit Hamon, which the French left had hoped could allow them to mount a serious challenge.
“He confirmed to me what I already knew, which is that he is running,” Hamon told TF1 television on Sunday night, announcing the setback after managing to secure a tie-up with environmentalist candidate Yannick Jadot.
Former-banker Macron, who started his own political movement En Marche (on the move) in April last year, has meanwhile started detailing his pro-business platform ahead of the official launch of his program on Thursday next week.
On the right, Le Pen and Republicans party candidate Francois Fillon have become increasingly embroiled in legal problems.
Both are accused of misusing public money by using fake parliamentary aides, while Le Pen faces a separate investigation into the funding of election campaigns in 2014 and 2015.
An aide and a political ally to Le Pen were charged last week, while Fillon faces a full judicial inquiry into claims he paid his wife and children for fake parliamentary jobs.
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