“In a run-off between the National Front and a Socialist, would the UMP
and the president prefer to have one of my deputies or a Socialist elected?”
Miss Le Pen asked.
“I still don’t have an answer to that question. I’m waiting,” she
said, when asked who she might back. “How I express myself will depend
on the response.”
Mr Hollande has accused his conservative rival of boosting the far Right by
matching its hardline stance on immigration, security, protectionism and
national identity.
Opinion polls show almost two thirds of Sarkozy supporters favour striking
alliances with Miss Le Pen. The President has ruled out offering
far-Rightists cabinet posts or helping them win seats at June’s legislative
election.
But he has not said whether he would back any rival party against the National
Front to keep them out of parliament, as his Right-wing predecessors have
always done.
Mr Sarkozy needs around 80 per cent of Le Pen voters to avoid defeat, but
polls suggest at best he can expect 60 per cent to back him.
Miss Le Pen is unlikely to endorse either candidate explicitly as she has made
it clear her ideal scenario would be for the mainstream Right to implode and
for her to pick up the pieces.
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