Marine Le Pen begins ‘great battle for France’ with presidential campaign launch

Marine Le Pen vowed to restore order to France and ensure the supremacy of French interests and law over international courts as she launched her campaign for the presidency as the favourite.Polls show support for the right-wing populist has solidified since the recent unrest in France. She is the first choice of about a third of the electorate, according to Ipsos, making her the clear front-runner in advance of an election in April.Le Pen told a crowd that recent scenes of arson and looting in France had vindicated the positions of her National Rally party, which has blamed the violence on immigration and the left wing.“Everyone in France now agrees with us,” she said.READ MOREThere was an intense security presence around the party conference in the city of Orléans, where over 10,000 people held a protest against the far right as the conference began.The city was chosen for its connection to Joan of Arc, who helped lift an English siege there in 1429. Le Pen has adopted her as a campaign symbol, selling mugs and posters depicting France’s warrioress patron saint.“Here in Orléans our national heroine, symbol of a refusal to give up, began her great battle for France,” Le Pen told supporters.She promised to restore the rule of law, push back against “punitive” green measures and introduce the automatic and “definitive” deportation of any foreigners convicted of a crime.[ Israeli army launches big West Bank operation in advance of electionOpens in new window ]In response to the unrest on the sidelines of protests, her party has proposed reducing the age of criminal responsibility to 16, charging rioters the cost of repair, and introducing “collective responsibility” for violence so that any participant in a protest that turns violent can face charges.Le Pen raised a huge cheer from the crowd when she promised French citizens would enjoy “national priority”, meaning they would have priority over foreigners for services such as public housing.[ France dodges rerun of looting and riots after security boostOpens in new window ]International courts should not be able to overrule decisions such as deportation orders, Le Pen said.“The president of the republic is first and foremost the guardian of French interests,” she said, not to “distribute French money to the entire world” or to favour “supranational entities”.“No text, no authority, and especially no foreign one, even European, will supersede the constitution,” she said.The Ipsos polls showed Le Pen had the support of 33.5 per cent of respondents, with her nearest rival the hard-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon on 17 per cent, indicating the two may face each other in a second-round run-off vote in May.“The old major parties are burning with their last embers,” Le Pen said as she concluded her speech.“We are not living through the end of the world, but the end of a world: their world. It is up to us to reinvent the one to come.”