Le Pen's presidential campaign suspended due to lack of sponsors
The National Rally's party leader Marine Le Pen has suspended her election campaign due to a shortage of signatures required to be included in the first round of voting.
According to BFMTV, Marine Le Pen's candidacy has been halted until she gathers a larger number of signatures.
In a video on Twitter Monday, Le Pen issued "an appeal to the mayors" to sponsor her, insisting that millions of voters would be deprived of an election if they did not assist her in gathering 500 signatures from elected officials in at least 30 departments.
📹 Je lance un appel aux maires : si vous ne m'aidez pas, des millions d'électeurs seront privés d'élection.
— Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) February 21, 2022
Ne laissez pas se produire un scandale démocratique majeur. #Parrainages pic.twitter.com/yXtJiEo5sI
Le Pen is not the only candidate facing an election issue. Her opponent, Eric Zemmour, had to reschedule a trip to Reunion planned for this week while he sought extra signatures to reach the March 4 deadline.
The first voting round is scheduled for April 10 and President Emmanuel Macron currently leads the polls. Second place is contested by Le Pen, Zemmour, and right-wing contender Valerie Pecresse.
Days ago, Le Pen, the leader of the far-right political party National Rally, accused one of its members, Nicolas Bay, of leaking confidential information to rival election candidate Eric Zemmour, according to media reports.