PARIS, November 16. /TASS/. Head of the French National Front Marine Le Pen has pledged to normalize the country’s relations with Russia if elected president in 2017.
"If I am president, then France will have good relations with Russia," Le Pen said at the opening ceremony of her campaign office in Paris on Wednesday. The National Front leader is confident that if she wins the upcoming presidential elections, then she will be able to improve international situation working together with Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. "It would be good for world peace," she noted.
Reporters draw attention to the fact that Marine Le Pen’s campaign office is situated on the same street where the Elysee presidential palace stands with a distance of only 1.5 kilometers between them. "I hope we will cover this distance, so this would be our last stop on the way to the Elysee Palace," the National Front leader said.
France is less than six months away from the presidential election. Marine Le Pen has joined the election race under quite favorable circumstances as all the polls have been showing her growing popularity. According to the French Institute of Public Opinion (IFOP), 25-28% of voters are ready to support her in the first round of the elections which is currently the best rating compared to the other candidates.
However, the run-off election will prove to be decisive. Marine Le Pen will have to try hard to receive more than 50% of the vote. In 2002, her father, founder of the National Front Jean-Marie Le Pen made it into the second round of the elections but lost to Jacques Chirac who gained 82% of the vote although his real rating was not so high.
Experts point out that the outcome of the Austrian presidential election, the Brexit vote and Donald Trump’s election win may have some impact on the political landscape in France. "All the opinion polls showed that Hillary Clinton was bound to win but as it turned out, the pollsters were wrong. The upcoming presidential campaign in France may surprise us all," the French media say.