French election this year is getting most of the attention among all the other elections in Europe, including Germany and Netherlands. Possibly because the right-wing National Front (NF) leader Marine Le pen has a real chance of winning the election and because she has promised to take France out of the European Union as well as the Eurozone if she fails to negotiate better terms. Here are the key election updates,
- Former Prime Minister of the Republican Party poured cold water to the speculations that he might replace the Party’s candidate Francois Fillon, whose campaign got hit hard by fake jobs scandal which alleges that he paid his wife and children millions of euro from state funds for fake jobs. Mr. Juppe confirmed that he is not going to run for the Presidency with just 50 days left to the election despite a poll showed that he could actually beat both Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron. His comments weighed on the single currency that suffered slide after the news broke out. The single currency is currently trading at 1.058 against the dollar.
- After Juppe dropped out, a poll came out; this suggested an increased possibility of a Le Pen victory. According to the polls, Ms. Le Pen is going to have 3 points victory against Macron and 8 points victory against Fillon in the first round and she reduced her deficit in the second round to just 14 points against Macron.
- France’s incumbent President Francois Hollande said that a Marine Le Pen victory in the upcoming election poses a serious threat to France and the rest of the Europe. He said it is his ultimate duty to prevent a Le Pen victory and he will do everything to ensure that she doesn’t win.
- When asked by CNN’s Anderson Cooper that all poll showing she loses, Ms. Le Pen said that these polls also predicted that Brexit won’t happen and Donald Trump will not win the US Presidency.
The first round of the French election will be held on 23rd April.
