Politicians begin race for French presidency

The race toward next April's French presidential election has begun with far-right leader Marine Le Pen, the defeated candidate in 2017, laying into incumbent Emmanuel Macron and attacking what she called the country's "Talibanized" zones and drug-filled housing estates.

The opening of the trial of 20 people in connection with the 2015 Paris terror attacks last week has seen law and order at the heart of early policy declarations.

"There will be no place in France where the law does not apply," said Le Pen to supporters of her anti-immigration Rassemblement National, or RN, party, during a rally in the Mediterranean coast town of Frejus on Sunday.

"We will eradicate gangs and mafias and all those, Islamists or not, who want to impose rules and ways of life that are not ours."

Le Pen faces a challenge to shake off the association with her father Jean-Marie Le Pen, former leader of what was then known as the Front National. Her campaign poster does not even mention RN, but presents her as a guardian of national liberty in the face of Macron's authoritarian approach during the pandemic, accusing him of ushering in "a society of surveillance and policing".

"The government has deepened a divide between two Frances, either by design or by its method (of governing), as if there weren't enough splits in the country," she added.

However, Le Pen's hopes could be derailed by Eric Zemmour, a political journalist and commentator described by the New York Times as "perhaps France's best-known professional provocateur".

'Nervous leadership'

He has yet to formally declare his candidature, but Le Pen has admitted that if he did stand, he could damage her support base. News site Politico quoted an unnamed RN insider as saying the leadership is very nervous, and they talk about Zemmour all the time. "Le Pen's image is a bit stale and they are worried his bid could scupper her chances," the insider said.

Speaking on television channel France 2 over the weekend, Zemmour said he believed Le Pen "would never win, and everyone in (RN) knows it".

"I think the French see that, and she knows it," he continued. "Today, a vote for Marine Le Pen is a vote for Macron. Because that's what he is hoping for, to face her again (in the election) and beat her."

Macron has yet to confirm whether he will run, but it is widely understood that he will, on a platform of his stewardship of the economy post-pandemic, presenting himself as a proven crisis manager, in contrast to Le Pen.

Paris's socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo also launched her campaign over the weekend. She is not seen as a major challenger, but could be a rallying point for those on the left or Green voters.

"The presidential mandate now coming to an end was supposed to unite the French, but it divided them as never before," she said.

"It was supposed to solve social problems, but made them worse. It was supposed to protect our planet, but it ignored the environment."