Le Pen rallies base, slams Macron as candidate of ‘morbid continuity’

French far-right presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen rallied her supporters at a meeting north of Paris on Monday, denouncing her centrist rival Emmanuel Macron as the candidate of “the system” and high finance.

Before thousands of followers waving the French tricolour, Le Pen recited a litany of names of prominent politicians and business figures supporting Macron, saying he was the candidate of “a morbid continuity.”

“Saying ‘new’ four times in a row is not enough to make you the embodiment of novelty,” she declared.

Le Pen, who on Saturday announced that she would appoint defeated first-round nationalist candidate Nicolas Dupont-Aignan as prime minister if elected, challenged Macron to name his prospective premier.

Le Pen was introduced by Dupont-Aignan, who told the crowd that electing Macron would mean “to say goodbye to our values, to our identity.”

He slammed as “traitors” the leaders of the centre-right Les Republicains party, including defeated conservative candidate Francois Fillon, who had called for a vote for Macron to keep the National Front from power.

In one of several nods to the voters of Jean-Luc Melenchon, who took almost 20 per cent of the first round vote, Le Pen noted that the radical leftist had been condemned in the media for not calling for a Macron vote.

“It is forbidden under pain of excommunication to call for  a second round candidate who isn’t the system’s candidate,” she declared.

Macron was due to hold a rally later on Monday in Paris.
Paris (dpa) 01st May, 2017 -