National Front leader Marine Le Pen has taken the lead in a poll of first round presidential voting intentions in France. Her lead is only 25% to 24% for Nicolas Sarkozy. The incumbent, Francois Hollande, came in a poor third. So reports the Financial Times.
France almost always holds two rounds of presidential voting as there are normally more than two serious candidates. In the second round, the two strongest vote getters square off and those who voted for someone else in round one either pick one of the two finalists, or stay home.
Le Pen and her FN do not favor France ceding sovereignty to the EU. As our headline notes, should she be elected president it would be bad news for the EU.
It is argued that voters for either of the two centrist parties, headed by Hollande and Sarko, would be reluctant to vote for Le Pen. French presidential elections will be held in the late spring of 2017, much can change in the interim.
