Eric Zemmour and Marine Le Pen, two hard-Right French presidential candidates are at risk of not qualifying for the elections as local mayors and MPs refuse to back them over fears of a public backlash, reports The Telegraph.
Despite polling in second and third place behind Emmanuel Macron, the candidates are significantly short of the signatures needed to stand in the April 10 vote.
Candidates require the support of 500 mayors, MPs or senators under French election rules, but this year for the first time the local officials are being forced to publicly declare who they are nominating, leaving some reluctant to support more extreme candidates.
Although the nominations are not supposed to signal formal support, some mayors admit they fear being labelled racist for their choices, while others have raised fears that local funding could be cut off if they select the “wrong” candidate.