Trump looms large over French presidential race
French PM says possible Le Pen could win in 2017
AFP
AFP, PARIS: Donald Trumps election looms large over the race for president of Americas oldest ally France, where mainstream candidates all style themselves as uniquely qualified to prevent the far-right from causing a similar upset.
On Thursday evening, right-wing candidates will take part in the last of three debates ahead of the first round on Sunday of a primary to pick their nominee, who is in turn widely expected to win next years election.
Trumps accession to the White House and what it might mean for National Front (FN) leader Marine Le Pens chances are expected to feature prominently in their exchanges.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls admitted during a visit to Berlin on Thursday that it was possible that Le Pen could win next years election and warned against ignoring the danger of the far-right.
If Le Pen reached the second round runoff in the election, the balance of politics will change completely, the Socialist premier said.
In that second round, polls currently show she is likely to face the winner of the mainstream right-wing primary.
Le Pen is polling at around 25-28 per cent on the kind of nationalist, anti-immigration message that won over millions of US voters and convinced Britons to vote to exit the European Union.
While the polls show Le Pen being defeated by the centre-right candidate in the second round of the election in May, she has gleefully brandished Trumps shock victory as proof that nothing is set in stone.
Both former president Nicolas Sarkozy and ex-prime minister Alain Juppe claim to be the best-placed to keep Le Pen out of power, in Sarkozys case by borrowing some of the FNs ideas on immigration and Islam, and in Juppes by trying to unite French voters against her.
Sarkozy, who is trailing Juppe in the primary, has pledged to curb immigration and intern suspected Islamist radicals following a wave of jihadist attacks.
Like Le Pen, Sarkozy saw the US result as a sign, seizing on Trumps victory as proof of a rejection of group-think.
Meanwhile, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Thursday that far-right leader Marine Le Pen had a chance of winning next years presidential election, boosted by the momentum of Donald Trumps shock win in the United States.
Its possible, Valls said in response to a question at an economic conference in Berlin on whether the candidate of Frances anti-immigration National Front could win in light of the US upset.
Le Pen is widely tipped to reach the second round of the election on May 7, where she would face either a candidate of the mainstream right or the left.
This means that the balance of politics will change completely, Valls said, warning of the danger presented by the extreme right.
There is growing concern in France that the same wave of populist, anti-globalisation anger that carried Trump to the White House could hand Le Pen the keys to the Elysee Palace.
Of course there are risks in France, I am struck by the tone of the public debate, Valls said.
But he stressed that there were differences between Trump and Le Pen, noting that the American billionaire was the candidate of a mainstream party even though his speeches and proposals are worrying.
