Le Pen kicks off campaign in French stronghold

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STORY: :: French far right leader Marine Le Pen makes her first campaign visit in her northern stronghold

:: Henin-Beaumont, France

:: June 14, 2024

:: Marine Le Pen, National Rally (RN) leader

"We have the possibility of winning these elections, of creating a government of national unity with calm and serenity. We must get France out of this rut. Faced with an extremely worrying bloc which is NUPES 2 (the left-wing alliance formerly called NUPES, now called the New Popular Front), worse than NUPES 1, I call to action all French people, to come and help us, for the country, to power a team that will save France for three years (until the next election)."

Opinion polls project that Marine Le Pen's RN could, for the first time, top the June 30 and July 7 vote, but without enough seats to win an absolute majority and govern on its own.

The snap election, called by President Emmanuel Macron after his centrist alliance was trounced by the RN in Sunday's European Parliament ballot, has upended French politics, with parties rushing to field candidates and prepare platforms.

For the anti-immigration, eurosceptic RN, the challenge is to transform popularity into a win at home, and to convince voters it can be trusted to govern after decades on the margins.