A former French prime minister today warned that a Marine Le Pen presidency would lead to “collective ruin”.
Dominique de Villepin, 63, said he was concerned at the way his country had become “indifferent” to the prospect of a xenophobic politician with strong links to neo-Nazis taking charge. “Marine Le Pen’s programme is collective ruin,” he told TV news channel BFM. “I’m worried like many French.”
Ms Le Pen, of the National Front, faces independent candidate Emmanuel Macron in the second and final round of the presidential election on Sunday.
In 2002, her father, the convicted anti-Semite Jean-Marie Le Pen, also got through to the final round against the conservative Jacques Chirac, before losing by more than 80 per cent of the vote.
Mr de Villepin, who served as prime minister between 2005 and 2007, said: “In 2002, the French people stood up. Jacques Chirac did not have to campaign. There wasn’t the confusion, the indifference that we see today. From this point of view, it’s necessary to say yes to France, yes to the Republic.”
He said he would vote for Mr Macron, who is the favourite.
