Far-right politician Marine Le Pen declares she will run in the 2022 French presidential election

French far-right politician Marine Le Pen said on Friday she would stand in the 2022 presidential election and that she thought victory was entirely ‘plausible’.

‘I am once again standing as a presidential candidate, before you,’ Le Pen, 52, who heads up the far-right Rassemblement National party, told a news conference.

President Emmanuel Macron defeated Le Pen by 33 per cent to 66 per cent in the 2017 vote. 

Opinion polls again put Macron and Le Pen as the likely two candidates to make it through to the last round in the April 2022 election, with Macron seen as the eventual winner.

French far-right politician Marine Le Pen said on Friday she would stand in the 2022 presidential election and that she thought victory was entirely ‘plausible’

President Emmanuel Macron defeated Le Pen by 33 per cent to 66 per cent in the 2017 vote. Experts predict a similar runoff in the April 2022 elections, returning Macron to the top job

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Nevertheless, concerns about his government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and worries about terrorism, violent crime, and immigration, have dented Macron’s standing.

Le Pen has vowed to hold a national referendum on immigration as her first presidential act if she wins the 2022 race.     

Speaking to national radio station France Inter, the leader of Rassemblement National (RN) – National Rally – said her ‘first decision would be the organisation of a referendum on immigration’.

‘It has been decades since the various governments made decisions on immigration with the French people ever being listening to or questioned on the subject,’ she said.

Concerns about Macron’s government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and worries about terrorism, violent crime, and immigration, have dented his chances of re-election

Le Pen outlined her three upmost priorities as the potential French president, adding that her second most important concern would be defending French national borders and sovereignty within the European Commission. 

‘Secondly, I would go to the European Commission to explain to them what I consider to be non-negotiable in the area of national sovereignty and in particular the control of our borders, because I consider border control a matter of national sovereignty,’ she said. 

Her third act would be the sweeping reforms of the French tax system, as she claims the country’s middle class is under ‘unsustainable pressure’. 

Le Pen has vowed to hold a national referendum on immigration as her first presidential act if she wins the 2022 race

Those in power have already said they are wary Le Pen could take the country’s top job next year. 

In February, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire warned a Le Pen victory was a ‘possibility’ that must be ‘fought’. 

Additionally a leaked Harris Interactive poll found the right-wing candidate could secure up to 48% of the vote in a new duel with the incumbent. 

Le Pen has been a rising figure in French politics even since taking over leadership of the Rassemblement National Party from her father in 2011.  

In 2017 she ran with a manifesto of 144 proposals including plans to leave the euro currency and hold a vote on European Union membership.  

Last month, Xavier Bertrand, a conservative politician who previously served as health minister in 2005-07, also declared his candidacy for the 2022 presidential election. 

Conservative politician Xavier Bertrand also declared his candidacy for the 2022 French presidential election last month