Le Pen to name Nicolas Dupont as PM if she wins

PARIS: Far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen announced on Saturday that if she wins France’s May 7 runoff she would name eurosceptic Nicolas Dupont-Aignan as her prime minister.

Le Pen told a press conference that she and Dupont-Aignan, who lost in the election’s first round with 4.7 percent of the vote, shared a "common project that we will promote together".

"We will build a national unity government that will bring together people chosen for their skills and their love of France," Le Pen said.

During the bruising campaign, Le Pen has attempted to wear down lingering resistance to her National Front party’s tainted brand by portraying her centrist rival Emmanuel Macron as an elitist money man.

Polls give him a commanding lead of up to 20 points over Le Pen in the runoff but show the gap narrowing slightly after Macron’s sluggish start to his second-round campaigning.

Le Pen says she wants to build up France’s borders, take it out of the eurozone and hold a referendum on the nation’s EU membership.

Macron and Le Pen between them accounted for only 45 percent of the first round vote, and the battle is now on for the remainder.