French far-right leader Le Pen predicts quick demise of new Bayrou govt

NEWS WIRES

24 December 2024 at 6:25 am·1-min read

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen has said she is preparing for an early presidential election.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen on Tuesday predicted an early presidential election, saying that President Emmanuel Macron "is finished" a day after his fourth prime minister in a year named a new government. Le Pen is seen as being in a strong position to take the presidency, but the impending verdict in her EU embezzlement trial could ban her from public office.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen said Tuesday that the days of France's new government are already numbered, predicting an early presidential election in a few months.

Le Pen, 56, spoke a day after President Emmanuel Macron named a new government under François Bayrou, his fourth prime minister of the year, to drag the second-largest EU economy out of political crisis.

"This moment of temporary political fluctuation... will come to an end as soon as the people, through their sovereign will and collective intelligence, decide to do so," she said in a Christmas Eve video posted on X.

"They will then choose a new path to follow, that of revival and recovery," Le Pen added, a Christmas tree behind her.

That moment will come "as soon as the institutions allow it. That means, as we are all aware, soon -- very soon, in a few months at most," she said.

Le Pen now has unprecedented power over French politics.

(AFP)

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