Marine Le Pen ally says French left threatens civil peace

Jordan Bardella, president of Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally party, accused left-wing parties on Saturday of seeking to “undermine civil peace” if 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, parliamentary leader of France Unbowed, and Greens leader Marine Tondelier have recently said they would support civil disobedience in the event of a National Rally victory.

Le Pen, 58, remains the front-runner in polls with less than eight months before the vote, AFP reported. Recent surveys cited by AFP show Jean-Luc Melenchon, the 75-year-old leader of hard-left France Unbowed, may have the best chance of reaching a runoff against her.

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.

The campaign is also exposing tensions among candidates outside the far right and hard left. Bruno Retailleau of the right-wing Republicans said on Friday he would not drop out in favour of former prime minister Edouard Philippe, who is seen as the best-positioned right-wing candidate to reach the runoff, or any other candidate. Retailleau said some of his supporters had told him they would back the far right if he withdrew.

A survey published this week by Medef, France's main business lobby, said 82 percent of French business leaders were pessimistic about the impact the next president's economic policies could have on their companies.

Patrick Pouyanne, chief executive of TotalEnergies, said on Saturday he was worried about France's economy if the race ended in a Le Pen-Melenchon runoff, saying both candidates would “pose a risk to France”.