Marine Le Pen ally says French left threatens civil peace

Jordan Bardella, president of France's far-right National Rally party, accused left-wing parties on Saturday of seeking to “undermine civil peace” if Marine Le Pen wins France's presidential election next spring.

Bardella, speaking at an agricultural fair in Chalons-en-Champagne in northeastern France, said he was concerned by calls from the left for “civil disobedience” if the National Rally comes to power. He said such calls questioned democracy, the rule of law and the electoral process.

Mathilde Panot, leader of the France Unbowed group in the lower house of parliament, and Greens leader Marine Tondelier have recently said they would support civil disobedience in the event of a National Rally victory.

Le Pen, 58, is described as the front-runner in polls with less than eight months before the election. Jean-Luc Melenchon, the 75-year-old hard-left candidate, may have the best chance of reaching a runoff against her, according to recent surveys cited by AFP.

During a first presidential debate on Thursday, Melenchon vowed to “disobey” European decisions that contradict the wishes of French voters and pressed ahead with proposals to cancel part of France's public debt. Bardella said he was concerned about Melenchon's “true intentions” and accused France Unbowed of wanting to destroy institutions.