Charismatic First Round Candidate, Nicolas Dupont Aignan, Throws His Support – And Almost Two Million Votes – Behind Le Pen

Nicolas Dupont-Aignan et Marine Le Pen.

 

The respected leader, founder of the ‘Arise France’ movement, would serve as French Prime Minister in a national government, Marine Le Pen confirmed this morning at a joint press conference.

 

The founder of the eurosceptic and sovereigntist party, ‘Arise France’, who won 4.7% of last week’s first round vote in the French presidential election, last night endorsed Marine Le Pen and announced an alliance to save the country from ‘’financial and media interests’’ seeking to install their preferred candidate, Emmanuel Macron, to the Elysée Palace.

Globalist Emmanuel Macron would be ‘’ten times worse’’ than François Hollande, Dupont-Aignan told French television, referring to the unpopular outgoing president, and was a candidate fabricated by media and financial elites working against the interests of the French nation.

Dupont-Aignan, respected on the French right, appealed to his own supporters, and to the voters of the right ‘’betrayed by their leaders’’ to join him in supporting Marine Le Pen’s presidential bid. The betrayal in question; a reference to establishment conservative, François Fillon, who called on his millions of voters to keep Le Pen from office by supporting former Socialist Party finance minister – and now presidential candidate – Emmanuel Macron. The endorsement came only minutes after Fillon was knocked out of the first round of voting last Sunday in a move which immediately drew rebellion from the grassroots, many of whom refuse to vote for a socialist or leftist candidate after five years of Hollande.

Dupont-Aignan and Le Pen appeared side by side this morning at a joint press conference where Le Pen announced that her new ally would be named prime minister in her administration, ‘’a government of national unity’’ which would re-unite ‘’personalities chosen for their competence and their love of France.’’

The move could be significant in the race to decide the country’s next president; Dupont-Aignan, a self-described Gaullist, carries a gravitas and statesmanship which will attract many voters, appealing particularly to those on the right who would have supported François Fillion had he not been knocked out of the first round of voting.

Fillon won 20% of the electorate, translating to over seven million votes, a significant proportion of which Le Pen must win in order to carry the election.

In other good news for Le Pen, left wing populist, Jean-Luc Mélanchon, refused to endorse Macron for the presidency in an announcement to supporters yesterday. The firebrand politician, who narrowly failed to qualify for the second round, obtained 19.5%, or more than seven million votes.

Despite coming from the opposite end of the political spectrum, Mélanchon and Le Pen voters share a certain commonality, particularly in the rejection of globalization and free trade agreements damaging to workers and a shared hostility towards the EU, now widely seen as serving financial and corporate interests over the common man.

Macron, speaking to an audience at Châtellerault last night, opened his speech decrying the lack of a ‘front républicain’’ to combat Le Pen and her party, and reacting angrily to news that he had not been endorsed by Mélanchon.

Criticizing the ‘’reactionary right’’, Macron called on supporters of all backgrounds and generations to rally behind his vision for France.

Both candidates will address supporters at large rallies in Paris on Monday.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVr35gfYlpg

Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, leader of ‘Arise France’, declares his intentions to campaign for Marine Le Pen on France 2 television last night.

 

 

Joint press conference held by Nicolas Dupont-Aignan and Marine Le Pen this morning to announce an alliance which would see Dupont-Aignan serve as prime minister in a Le Pen presidency.

 

Photo Credit: Agence France Presse/Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt

 

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