Majority of French Believe National Front Party Threat to Democracy - Poll

A total of 58 percent of French respondents believe the far-right National Front (FN) party poses a threat to democracy, a recent poll by the Kantar Sofres company showed on Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to the survey conducted for Le Monde newspaper and the FranceInfo broadcaster, the number of people, who regard FN as a threat increased by 2 percent from 2016 and by 11 percent from 2012.

The pollster added that the figures were still lower than the ones during 1980-2002 when about 70 percent of French nationals were concerned over the FN's potential impact on democracy.

The poll was conducted on February 23-27 among 1,006 respondents.

The party, established in 1972, sticks to the values of nationalism, anti-immigration policy, protectionist measures in economy and opposes multiculturalism. The FN has long been associated with the name of its former leader Jean-Marie Le Pen known for controversial statements on Nazi gas chambers used to kill people during the World War II and considered as a xenophobe.

In 2011, Jean-Marie was succeeded by his daughter Marine, who has initiated a campaign to "de-demonize" the image of the party and to get rid of the controversial legacy of her father. Marine Le Pen has also made a number of statements that have been criticized by several political powers in France, such as the need to introduce new taxes on contracts with foreign workers.

According to the polls of the ongoing presidential race, Marine Le Pen is expected to win the first round of the vote. Her presidential program includes provisions that could deny French citizenship to the undocumented immigrants and simplify their deportation. She also suggested to forbid all organizations linked to fundamentalist Islam, closing mosques designated by the country's Interior Ministry as tied to the extremists.