Marine Le Pen has fought for years to make the far-right party she inherited electable, and now appears to have a real chance to challenge incumbent Emmanuel Macron for the French presidency this month.

Short of a major upset, polling suggests she will reach the run-off on April 24 against the centrist after Sunday's first round vote.

And this time Macron is not assured of the support of the traditional united front of mainstream French voters that has seen Le Pen and her father off in previous elections.

Her strong performance is in large part thanks to her ability to soften her image in the 11 years she has led the former National Front, which she renamed the National Rally (RN) after expelling her father Jean-Marie in 2015.

Following a humiliating drubbing from Macron in a television debate before the 2017 election on Europe and economic policies, this time Le Pen has focused on cost of living issues in the face of rising inflation.

But the detail of her programme has changed little including measures like removing benefits from many immigrants, repudiating the primacy of EU law and closing the door on most asylum seekers.

The 53-year-old has also enjoyed cover from the emergence of Eric Zemmour, a bombastic TV polemicist who is still further to the right, and even more anti-Islam and anti-immigration.

"We're within the margin of error to beat Emmanuel Macron," National Rally interim president Jordan Bardella said Monday after the latest polls. "The momentum in Marine Le Pen's favour has never been this strong."

But political scientist and expert on the extreme right Jean-Yves Camus cautioned that the final points to take a candidate to 50 percent of the vote "are the hardest to win".

- Family affair -

Le Pen's life has been marked by the legacy of her openly racist father, a veteran of the long war in Algeria that ultimately led to the former French colony's independence.

French people forced to flee Algeria and their descendants -- the so-called "pieds noirs" -- remain a crucial base of support for the party in the south.

When she was young "it wasn't easy for people to go out with Marine Le Pen" based on her family name, she told celebrity magazine Closer in an interview that aimed to present a more humane image.

"I remember one man chose to break up with me, the pressure from his social circle was so heavy."

Twice divorced, she said she is now happy being single.

After training as a lawyer, she began her career defending illegal immigrants facing deportation, but later returned to the family fold and to her father's party.

Under her leadership since 2011, the party has enlarged its appeal to people in France's formerly Communist-voting northern rust belt. Her expulsion of the elder Le Pen, who once called the gas chambers of the Holocaust a "detail of history", has also helped temper its toxic image.

The tough years following the 2017 defeat saw Le Pen purge still more senior RN members judged harmful to the party's image, while her niece Marion Marechal -- a former MP and popular figure on the French far-right -- has switched her support to Zemmour.

The Le Pen name remains touchy enough that most RN campaign posters refer to the candidate simply as "Marine".

- Radical programme -

Experts have warned that the laws Marine Le Pen says she will pass would overturn historic French principles.

"This text represents nothing less than an exit from the constitutional framework France has lived in since the Revolution," constitutional law expert Dominique Rousseau told Challenges magazine.

Le Pen's plans include a so-called "national preference" for hiring French workers over foreigners, exclusion of non-citizens from some social benefits and opting out of parts of the European Convention on Human Rights.

That would mean "abandoning our (treaty) commitments and setting off a Frexit" -- a French departure from the European Union -- said Serge Slama, a law professor at the University of Grenoble.

Meanwhile a backlash over Le Pen's professed admiration for Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who she met in 2017, has so far failed to materialise despite the war in Ukraine.

"For protest voters, international affairs, even if they're among everyone's worries, won't be the first point of reference for their ballot," said Anne Muxel, research director at Paris' Centre for Political Research.

Le Pen has succeeded in playing on "great disruptions in our society", Macron acknowledged on France Inter radio Monday.

"All this... creates fear. And those who play on fears are rising. I haven't managed to hem them in," he admitted.

The 12 candidates standing in France's presidential election
Paris (AFP) April 6, 2022 - France on Sunday votes in the first round of presidential elections with Emmanuel Macron seeking a new term in the face of a challenge from the far right.

A total of 12 candidates are standing in the race, which will see the top two in the first round face off in a second-round run-off on April 24.

AFP looks at all the hopefuls, from the frontrunner Macron to an eccentric former shepherd from the Pyrenees mountains.

FAR RIGHT

- Marine Le Pen -

The veteran far-right leader is making her third attempt for the presidency after reaching the second round in 2017, with her political future widely seen as on the line in this year's polls.

Rather than holding flashy rallies, the 53-year-old has opted for low-key grassroots campaigning while seeking to cast herself as more mainstream, moderate and competent than her far-right rivals -- and even her former self.

- Eric Zemmour -

The ex-journalist, television pundit and best-selling author has a major national following thanks to his anti-Islam and anti-immigration views, which has enabled him to draw support away from Le Pen and the mainstream right.

As a political newcomer, the 63-year-old enjoyed a surge in the polls last October, but gaffes and his uncompromising style have seen him slip significantly behind Le Pen in the polls.

- Nicolas Dupont-Aignan

The eurosceptic head of the "Rise Up France" party is a pugnacious mayor of a Paris suburb who bubbles up in French public life every five years at presidential election time.

He has promised to crack down on migration and give "a kick in the butt to the lazy, slackers and free riders", but has been largely drowned out by Le Pen and Zemmour.

RIGHT

- Valerie Pecresse -

The head of the Greater Paris region surprised many by winning the primary for the conservative Republicans party, becoming its first female candidate in a presidential election.

The former budget minister has accused Macron of overspending and being soft on crime, but her campaign has struggled to gain traction and a disastrous first major rally in February dented her credibility.

CENTRE

- Emmanuel Macron -

In power since 2017 when he won the presidency in his first ever election, the 44-year-old pro-European had been enjoying a comfortable poll lead although this has now slipped as Le Pen gains ground.

Seen as having drifted rightwards during his term, he is promising more tax cuts, benefits reform and a raise in the retirement age if he becomes the first French president to be re-elected in 20 years.

LEFT

- Anne Hidalgo -

The mayor of Paris took on the task of trying to revive the fortunes of the floundering Socialist Party after it was trounced in the 2017 presidential and parliamentary elections.

The soft-spoken 62-year-old has rarely convinced and appeared to be looking for a way out at the end of last year, with polls suggesting she may struggle to score even two percent.

- Yannick Jadot -

The former Greenpeace campaigner hoped to transform the dazzling success the Greens enjoyed in local elections two years ago, saying the French are ready to embrace an environmental revolution.

But pushing what he calls pragmatic policies to combat climate change instead of the more radical solutions sought by some in his party, he has failed to put the environment at the centre of the campaign.

FAR LEFT

- Jean-Luc Melenchon -

A political veteran famous for his tirades against globalisation and the "elites", the former Trotskyist is polling the strongest among the left-wing candidates and the only one with even a remote chance of making the second round.

A forceful speaker and debater, he is gaining momentum, holding rallies across the country and even appearing simultaneously across France as a hologram.

- Fabien Roussel -

The charismatic leader of France's Communist Party has seen his single-digit poll numbers hold firm, though his party remains a shadow of its post-war glory days.

Roussel has promised to increase taxes on companies and the highest earners as well as nationalise big banks and energy giants.

- Philippe Poutou -

The self-styled voice of the workers and scourge of professional politicians, the former Ford factory worker insulted fellow candidates during a TV debate in 2017 and refused to take part in a joint photo.

He is standing for the New Anti-Capitalist Party with a campaign promising to disarm the police and rebuild France's public administration.

- Nathalie Arthaud -

A low-key and bookish former teacher who is standing for the Workers' Struggle party in her third tilt at the presidency.

The Trotskyist is promising a huge hike in the minimum wage, a ban on job cuts and retirement at 60, but like all the other fringe candidates has made little impact on the campaign so far.

RURALIST

- Jean Lassalle -

The eccentric MP from the Pyrenees mountains in the southwest is a former shepherd known for his strong regional accent and passionate defence of rural communities.

Viewed affectionately by many French people, he stands almost no chance in the presidential vote but will probably retain his seat in parliament if he stands in elections in June.

Related Links
Democracy in the 21st century at TerraDaily.com

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