Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a fiery left-winger whose anti-capitalist agenda has shaken up France’s presidential race, has gained four points in two weeks in the polls, a result that would see him seize the third spot in the first-round vote with 15 per cent, a poll showed yesterday.
The same poll, for LH2-Yahoo, suggested his more mainstream socialist challenger, François Hollande, would still win the first-round vote on April 22nd, however, with 28.5 per cent of the vote.
But the head of France’s main business lobby, Laurence Parisot, told iTele she considered Mr Mélenchon divisive and his rhetoric objectionable. “I find Mélenchon is much more the inheritor of The Terror, rather than of the finest values of the Revolution,” said Ms Parisot, referring to the period when tens of thousands were beheaded at the guillotine. – (Reuters)