Presidential Duel With Macron Would Be 'a Dream', Says Le Pen

PARIS, , (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Jan, 2017 ) - French far-right leader Marine Le Pen said Tuesday she would relish a duel for the presidency with former economy minister Emmanuel Macron, as polls show the rising star closing in on the frontrunners.

A little over three months before the French begin voting in an election that could decide the European Union's future, the race is seen as wide open. Most polls show National Front leader Le Pen -- who wants to exit the eurozone and hold an election on France's membership of the EU -- going through to the May runoff, along with conservative candidate Francois Fillon.

But recent surveys have shown Macron, 39, gaining ground. "It would be a gift if I met Macron in the second round," Le Pen told AFP. "You couldn't dream of a clearer, total clash of ideas." Le Pen, who is running on a French-first, anti-immigration platform that contains shades of Donald Trump's campaign in the US, has billed the election as a choice between defenders of globalisation and "patriots".

On Tuesday, she dismissed the youthful-looking Macron as the face of "unabashed globalisation". "A face-off between a globalist as unabashed as him and a patriot like me would be ideal," 48-year-old Le Pen said.