The founder of France's far-right National Front (FN), Jean-Marie Le Pen, predicted Saturday that his daughter Marine would succeed where he had always failed and win the 2017 presidential vote, reports GlobalPost.
Socialist President Francois Hollande's popularity has plummeted to record lows but the right-wing opposition party of his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy has been unable to take advantage amid a string of scandals.
Le Pen predicted a major FN foray in this month's local polls, which pollsters and analysts have also forecast, would lead to more electoral victories and eventually shatter the bipolar order of French politics.
"This (municipal) election is the first in a series which must drive us -- I sense that profoundly -- to Marine Le Pen's election victory in 2017," the 85-year-old said, addressing a crowd of supporters in the southwestern city of Toulouse.
Reaf more of this AFP report published by GlobalPost.