BREAKING NEWS

French presidential hopeful Le Pen names nationalist as prime minister

PARIS - French far-right presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen on Saturday named defeated first-round candidate Nicolas Dupont-Aignan as her chosen prime minister, a bid to attract his voters and help win victory over the centrist favorite Emmanuel Macron.
Dupont-Aignan is a nationalist whose protectionist economic policies are close to those of the National Front's Le Pen and who, like her, wants to reduce the powers of European Union institutions.
He scored 4.7 percent of votes in the first round on April 23, and announced on Friday that he was backing her for the decisive May 7 second round in eight days time.
"We will form a government of national unity that brings together people chosen for their competence and their love of France," she said at a Paris news conference side by side with her choice.