A majority of French right-wingers support an alliance between the conservative Republicans and Marine Le Pen’s populist National Rally, according to a poll.
The Odoxa poll revealed that immigration is the most important issue to right-wing voters in France, who represented around 24 per cent of the total number of people surveyed, Le Figaro reports.
Sixty-one per cent of the right-wing supporters said they would back an electoral alliance between the conservative Republicans (LR) and the populist National Rally (RN). Two-thirds, 66 per cent, of RN supporters favour a coalition and 57 per cent of LN supporters agree with the sentiment.
The most popular political figure among the French right-wing, with 76 per cent favorability, is former French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Marion Maréchal, the niece of Marine Le Pen, is in second place with 59 per cent.
Ms Maréchal recently spoke at a conference in Paris on the topic of uniting the French right. She also called on right-wingers in France to resist and fight the Great Replacement, a theory regarding the rapid demographic shift in Western nations as a result of mass migration.
“The first major challenge, the most vital, is the Great Replacement, this demographic countdown, which already makes us realise the possibility of becoming a minority on the land of our ancestors,” she said. She added that the consequences of the Great Replacement would be a “multicultural society that wants to be fractured and violent”.
Marine Le Pen came third in the favourability poll just behind Maréchal with 56 per cent. Last month, Le Pen called for a national referendum on immigration issues and criticised French President Emmanuel Macron for his handling of mass migration.
According to Le Pen, the referendum votes would be “yes or no to [birthright citizenship], yes or no to family reunification, yes or no to control of our borders again”.
“These are questions to which the French have the right to answer, have the right to be questioned because it’s been for the past 30 years that an immigration policy which is contrary to their will has been carried out,” she said.