The leader of the hard-right National Rally party Marine Le Pen has called on voters to inflict "the most crushing electoral sanction" possible on President Emmanuel Macron's centrist alliance in next month's European elections.
"We must counter them, we must sanction them, we must dismiss them," Le Pen told some 2,000 supporters at a party congress in the southern city of Perpignan on Wednesday.
"We must inflict on those in power the most crushing electoral sanction that we can," she said.
The far-right National Rally (RN) party has been leading in the polls, ahead of Macron's centrist alliance Renaissance.
RN's list for the elections is led by her youthful protege Jordan Bardella, just 28, who has already succeeded the veteran campaigner as party leader.
"This sanction will be measured by the gap between the list led by Jordan Bardella" and the Renaissance list, Le Pen added.
The RN list has 35 candidates – academic and former conservative Malika Sorel is second on the list, and Fabrice Leggeri (former head of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency) is third.
Le Pen urged followers to vote for Bardella's list to ensure that 9 June was the first stage of a great change in Europe, "but also because there are presidential elections in 2027 in France".
Le Pen failed to be elected as president in 2012, 2017 and 2022, though her party won its highest number of seats ever in parliamentary elections in 2022.
She is tipped to be the RN's candidate in 2027.
European polls
France will vote in 81 members of the European Parliament in the 9 June elections.
The ruling coalition's list is led by the until now little-known MEP Valerie Hayer.
Marion Maréchal will lead Eric Zemmour's hard-right anti-immigration Reconquest list, and Raphael Glucksmann is heading up the Socialists.
If the ruling coalition is beaten into second place in the European polls, it would be a major embarrassment for Macron, who throughout his almost seven years in office has presented himself as a bulwark against the far right.
(with AFP)
