- Title: French right wing frontrunner Juppe says: "No to demagogy"
- Date: 9th November 2016
- Summary: ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF SUPPORTERS APPLAUDING AND SINGING, WAVING FLAGS SIGN READING (French) "AJ (INITIALS OF ALAIN JUPPE) FOR FRANCE" (SOUNDBITE) (French) SUPPORTER THIBAULT DUVAL SAYING: "This (election of Donald Trump) does show one essential thing, that is that polls don't make an election, and that we must stay mobilized, be it for the primary or for the presidential election itself, nothing is done yet, and it does show one thing, it is that Marine Le Pen can make her way to power, even if today we are told that, no matter the candidate facing her, she would lose. We need to remain realistic, but mobilized on a daily basis." MEETING ONGOING VARIOUS OF JUPPE SITTING NEXT TO POLITICAL FIGURES BOARD READING (French) "DON'T "TRUMP" YOURSELF", WITH PLAY ON WORDS BETWEEN TRUMP AND MAKING A MISTAKE MAN HOLDING BOARD BEING FILMED (SOUNDBITE) (French) MILITANT MARIE-ROSE FERREIRA SAYING: "We are very concerned, indeed, but, as we are used to saying, we have confidence in Mr. Juppe, so we hope that every French citizen will come out and vote usefully. But it is true that with today, we do have a big concern." RALLY ONGOING VARIOUS OF WOMAN SELLING T-SHIRTS (SOUNDBITE) (French) UNDECIDED RIGHT WING VOTER ALAIN LAMAZEROLLES SAYING: "I am not really concerned with that (the election of Donald Trump), because here, in France, we beheaded a king, so I think we can behead populists as well...Well, 'behead' ...in quotation marks!" RALLY ONGOING VARIOUS OF SUPPORTERS LISTENING TO ALAIN JUPPE'S SPEECH (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH RIGHT WING PRESIDENTIAL FRONT RUNNER ALAIN JUPPE SAYING: "But beware the bad answers and the false solutions. I say "NO" to divisiveness, I say "NO" to demagoguery which pit the French against one another, and for instance elites against the people...This doesn't lead anywhere but to blockades which may be even more dangerous." SUPPORTERS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH RIGHT WING PRESIDENTIAL FRONT RUNNER ALAIN JUPPE SAYING: "The first truth on which I want to insist is that the National Front lies to French people. First, in spite of all the efforts it makes to de-demonize itself, one can easily see that its ideology is not compatible with our values and with the vision we have of France. To come back to what I was saying in the beginning, all the inspirers of the National Front are playing Petain against De Gaulle, ours is De Gaulle." RALLY ONGOING, WITH SUPPORTERS WAVING BOARDS AND FLAGS (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH RIGHT WING PRESIDENTIAL FRONT RUNNER ALAIN JUPPE SAYING: "Shame on the liars, shame on the slanderers, shame on far right manipulative people and on their accomplices." RALLY ONGOING, WITH SUPPORTERS WAVING BOARDS AND FLAGS SUPPORTER FILMING WITH HIS PHONE SUPPORTERS HOLDING BOARDS ALAIN JUPPE LEAVING, SURROUNDED BY A CROWD OF SUPPORTERS AND JOURNALISTS
- Embargoed: 24th November 2016 22:46
- Keywords: Juppe election Trump supporters
- Location: BORDEAUX, FRANCE
- City: BORDEAUX, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
- Reuters ID: LVA00357Q90EF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: After Donald Trump's shock win in the United States, French pollsters and pundits are now warning that surprises should not be ruled out in France's presidential election next year because of an untested primary system and a fragmented political field.
With poll after poll showing far-right leader Marine Le Pen emerging as one of the top two candidates in the first round but losing the second-round run-off, commentators have presented ex-prime minister Alain Juppe's victory as almost guaranteed.
Le Pen was quick to congratulate Trump on Wednesday, saying his win was part of a much wider revolt by voters against political elites worldwide.
"The first truth on which I want to insist is that the National Front lies to French people. First, in spite of all the efforts it makes to de-demonize itself, one can easily see that its ideology is not compatible with our values and with the vision we have of France. To come back to what I was saying in the beginning, all the inspirers of the National Front are playing Petain against De Gaulle, ours is De Gaulle," Juppe told a crowd of supporters at a rally in Bordeaux.
"Shame on the liars, shame on the slanderers, shame on far right manipulative people and on their accomplices," he added.
Incumbent Francois Hollande, who has yet to confirm his candidacy, is the most unpopular president in history, polls show no other leftist candidate has much of a chance, and former conservative leader Nicolas Sarkozy is also widely unpopular.
That would leave the way to the Elysee Palace wide open for Juppe, a moderate conservative seen as a safe pair of hands. Or so the story goes in the French media.
Just as in the United States and Britain, where opinion polls and the media presented a Trump defeat and a pro-European Union vote as a sure thing, French voters do not like to be told in advance what the result of an election will be, he added.
That has played into the hands of outsiders before, and it could benefit National Front leader Le Pen this time.
Her father Jean-Marie Le Pen unexpectedly reached the second round runoff in 2002 and former president Jacques Chirac beat Edouard Balladur, long the media favorite, in 1995.
Next year's election is also one of the most open in decades because for the first time both mainstream center-right and center-left parties will pick a candidate via a primary system open to any registered voter, making likely outcomes harder to measure for pollsters. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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