Marine Le Pen says she will name a former rival prime minister if elected
The New York Times
PARIS — Marine Le Pen, the far-right French presidential candidate, said on Saturday that she would name a former rival and fellow Euroskeptic as her prime minister if elected, in a new effort to broaden her appeal and defeat her centrist opponent, Emmanuel Macron, in the second round of the country’s elections on May 7.
Ms. Le Pen said she had reached an agreement with Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, a right-wing politician who shares her distrust of the European Union and globalization and who gathered 4.7 percent of the vote, or nearly 1.7 million ballots, in the election’s first round. Ms. Le Pen gathered 21.3 percent.
Ms. Le Pen, sitting with Mr. Dupont-Aignan at a news conference in Paris, praised him as a “patriot” and said that together they would present a “common project” to help them “claim the patriotic and republican victory that our country needs.”
Mr. Dupont-Aignan’s endorsement was first announced on Friday, amid the political fallout of the resignation of the interim leader of the National Front, Ms. Le Pen’s party, because of comments he made in 2000 praising a Holocaust denier and expressing doubt that the Nazis used poison gas to murder Jews.
Mr. Dupont-Aignan, who heads a right-wing party called Debout La France, or “Stand Up, France,” does not bring with him a substantial number of voters, and most of his supporters were already expected to choose Ms. Le Pen in the second round.
Mr. Dupont-Aignan has drawn heavy criticism for his endorsement, especially among politicians on the right who noted his past declarations that his “Gaullist” convictions — meaning his attachment to the political heritage of late president Charles de Gaulle — were incompatible with an alliance with the National Front.
Ms. Le Pen said the agreement with Mr. DupontAignan had led to “modifications” in her platform. Mr. Dupont-Aignan mentioned, for instance, a “less systematic” use of import taxes.
Still, the two politicians agree on a vast number of policies, including a hard-line approach to security and an emphasis on the need to increase economic protectionism and to reduce the powers of the European Union, which has become one of the campaign’s major issues.
Even if Ms. Le Pen were elected and Mr. DupontAignan were nominated to become prime minister, it is unclear that he would stay in the job for long. Although the president nominates the prime minister, that person must reflect the political majority in the National Assembly, France’s lower house of Parliament, to avoid a government-toppling motion of censure.
But few analysts believe the National Front will gain enough seats in legislative elections in June to obtain a majority, meaning Ms. Le Pen, if elected, could be forced to replace Mr. Dupont-Aignan after those elections.