French far right candidate suffers legal defeat
Source: CBS News
French far right leader Marine Le Pen lost a legal battle Tuesday in her bid to run for president, with the Constitutional Court ruling that her backers' names must be made public.
The decision upholds current electoral law and puts added pressure on Le Pen and her anti-immigrant party two months ahead of presidential elections. It's an indirect victory for conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is trying to sap Le Pen's support with nationalist rhetoric in his struggle for a second term.
Current rules say that anyone wishing to run for president must submit signatures of 500 mayors or local officials supporting the candidacy. The signatures are then made public.
Le Pen enjoys solid support in opinion polls but says she has had a hard time obtaining signatures of the public officials. Le Pen's National Front party says mayors worry that their own careers could be hurt if they support the Front's candidates because of its extreme views, and argues the rule is unconstitutional.
Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501714_162-57381947/french-far-right-candidate-suffers-legal-defeat/
The article indicates that the deadline for submitting the 500 signatures is March 16 so Le Pen does not have much time left. Her far-right party had been polling very close to Sarkozy's conservative party and threatening to knock Sarkozy out of the second round of the presidential election. In the past few weeks her party seems to have fallen further behind and does not seem to pose as much of a threat to Sarkozy whether she gets the signatures or not.
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