French centrist Emmanuel Macron is set to come out on top in the first round of France's presidential election on Sunday as far right leader Marine Le Pen fell further behind him in an Elabe poll published on Friday. However, neither is totally assured a spot in the May 7 runoff round as both conservative Francois Fillon and hard-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon were seen narrowing Macron and Le Pen's lead over them.
Far-right French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen called for a moratorium on legal immigration in a Paris campaign speech. As her campaign reaches its final week before the first round of elections, it was the first time Le Pen said she would, as president, suspend all immigration to France.
Two Frenchmen arrested in Marseille on Tuesday planned an “imminent and violent attack” ahead of the first round of the presidential election on Sunday, France's interior minister said. France's internal intelligence agency, which had been looking for the two suspects for more than a week, had warned main candidates in the election that there was a threat to their security, campaign officials said.
Front National leader Marine Le Pen has called for a new French currency and pledged to hold a referendum on the country’s membership of the European Union if she is elected French President later this year.
French President Francois Hollande said on Thursday he would not seek a second term in next year's presidential election, a surprise move that clears the way for an alternative left-wing candidate, most probably his prime minister Manuel Valls.
Francois Fillon, a socially conservative free-market, won France’s center-right presidential primaries on Sunday, setting up a likely showdown next year with far-right leader Marine Le Pen that the pollsters expect him to win. Fillon, who went into Sunday’s second-round run-off as firm favorite, had won over 67% of the vote in a head-to-head battle with another ex-prime minister, Alain Juppe.
The free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union could be concluded in 2018 depending on the election results next year in France and Germane anticipated a Brazilian official during a forum on foreign trade held in Sao Paulo. France is holding presidential elections next May 2017 and Germany some time later.
Withdrawal from the European Union will not affect the protection the UK provides for its overseas territories, the chair of Vote Leave, Gisela Stuart, has told MPs in the House of Commons.
Marine Le Pen's far-right National Front failed to take a single region during the runoff of regional elections after dominating the first round of voting, pollsters projected. The conservatives of former president Nicolas Sarkozy surged against the governing Socialists, changing the political map of France.
France's far-right National Front (FN) saw record gains in the first round of regional polls on Sunday, held under a state of emergency just three weeks after Islamic extremists killed 130 people in Paris. Despite the strong result, it faces an uphill battle to clinch a run-off vote next week after Socialists withdrew candidates to block it from power.