French far-right leader Marine Le Pen announced she would run for president in the 2022 presidential election, when current president Emanuel Macron’s five-year term will end.
“I have considered this and my decision has been made”, Le Pen said, and announced: “I am preparing for the presidential election”.
Le Pen also said that the final candidate decision will be made at a conference of her National Rally party. “Emmanuel Macron having himself launched the presidential campaign, I will not let him run alone”, she warned.
Her early announcement comes when Macron’s government is facing a difficult time, with the country’s strike against a proposed pension reform, that has left transport paralysed for weeks.
This will be her third attempt to run for president. In 2012 she did not make it to the final round, and in 2017 she was defeated by Macron.
Le Pen was a member of the EU Parliament from 2009 until 2017. In 2011, she became leader of the far-right National Rally, which was then called the National Front, and was founded by her father Jean-Marie Le Pen, who unsuccessfully ran for president in the 2002 election.
During her career, she has expressed skepticism about the EU, migration, Islam, and has been accused of racism.
French far-right leader Le Pen to run for president in 2022 election
EPA-EFE/STEPHANIE LECOCQ
French far-right Rassemblement National (RN) President Marine Le Pen gives a press conference to announce the creation of a new political group 'Identity and Democracy' (ID) at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, 13 June 2019. The group consists of various nationalist, euroskeptic and right-wing populist parties that were elected to the European Parliament in the 23-26 May election.
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