FRANCE:French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen has almost doubled his support since January and has never been as high in the opinion polls six months from a presidential election, Le Monde reported yesterday.
The veteran leader of the far-right National Front would attract 17 per cent of the vote if he runs in next year's presidential ballot, a rise of eight points since January, according to the poll.
Le Pen, who caused a shock by eliminating Socialist Party candidate Lionel Jospin and finishing second in the 2002 presidential election, has benefited from worries about tensions in France's volatile poor suburbs, Stéphane Rozès, director of the CSA-Opinion polling institute, said.
Mr Le Pen has yet to secure the 500 signatures of support from mayors across France that he needs to run but has been preparing his campaign by toning down the party's xenophobic rhetoric to appeal to more voters from the political mainstream.
The poll of 1,002 people by CSA-Opinion for Le Monde and the news television station i-Télé was conducted on November 21st and 22nd . - (Reuters)