The socialist mayor of the northern French city of Lille has sent out 60,000 letters to locals telling them to vote for globalist Emmanuel Macron and claiming that anti-mass migration candidate Marine Le Pen will “trample” French values.
Lille Mayor Martine Aubry has sent 60,000 letters telling residents of the French city to vote for globalist candidate Macron against Marine Le Pen. According to Ms Aubry, Le Pen and the National Front has not changed since the days when it was led by Marine’s father Jean-Marie Le Pen and said that Macron is the only option Le Figaro reports.
“Marine Le Pen tries to show a more assured image … But the National Front has not changed, it continues to feed on fears and disarray,” Aubry said adding, “If the extreme right should come to power, the values that make France – freedom, equality and fraternity – would be trampled on by xenophobic and reactionary projects.”
Aubry sent the letters despite recent comments by Macron saying that the eight million or so Le Pen voters were, “As hateful as they are cowardly. You know them. The party of the agents of the disaster, the fearmongers. The French far-right. It’s here.”
Aubry then told residents, “on 7 May we must block the Front National by voting for Emmanuel Macron,” and proceeded to call Ms Le Pen, “an enemy of the Republic,” echoing the words of former Socialist Party candidate Benoit Hamon who used the same terminology in his concession speech on the night of the first round of the election.
While many fear that municipal funds were being used to finance the letter campaign, Aubry has insisted that the Socialist Party have paid for the costs which amount to just over 900 euros and said that party volunteers will deliver the letters.
Aubry may be an unlikely ally of Macron as she has expressed severe doubts over his economic policies before. Marine Le Pen has campaigned on a much more left of centre economic policy against globalism and for what she calls “intelligent” protectionism.
Formerly the party of the working class, the Socialists have lost much of their traditional support under the vastly unpopular presidency of Francois Hollande. The party candidate Benoit Hamon reached a mere 6.3 percent of the vote in the first round and the party looks badly placed for the legislative elections in June.
Much of the traditional base of the Socialists has flocked to Marine Le Pen as their jobs have disappeared due to outsourcing and globalisation. In Calais, once famous for its textiles, a workforce of 30,000 has been reduced to a mere 300 and massive unemployment has led to many to turn to LePen for hope.
The same phenomenon has also been seen in the French “rust belt” where working class voters now support Le Pen against an establishment they feel has abandoned them.
Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson@breitbart.com
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