France's ex-PM calls for new party to counter far-right

FRANCE/ TOURCOING:

French presidential hopeful Edouard Philippe said Sunday he wanted to bring together the centre and the right and called for the creation of a new political party, as moderates seek to prevent far-right figurehead Marine Le Pen from coming to power.

Seeking to energise his supporters in the northern town of Tourcoing, Philippe, the centre-right former prime minister, said he wanted to create a new party or an alliance of parties ahead of parliamentary elections expected to follow next spring's presidential vote.

With less than eight months until the April-May presidential election, Le Pen, 58, is the front-runner in the polls.

"It is about building the governing pact, or the new party, or the new confederation of parties, that will enable all those who want to unite their efforts in the service of the country to govern together," said the leader of the Horizons party.

"This will involve fielding a single candidate in each constituency," Philippe, 55, said, adding such candidates would run "under a common banner" in order to build a parliamentary political majority following the election.

While Philippe remains the best-positioned candidate on the right, recent surveys indicate that Jean-Luc Melenchon, the divisive leader of hard-left France Unbowed (LFI), could emerge as Le Pen's most likely run-off opponent, raising some doubts over Philippe's ability to secure a place in the second round.

Observers say that a crowded field of candidates from the centre, centre left, centre right and right risks fragmenting the moderate vote in the first round.

On Sunday, Philippe stepped up his push for a "political realignment".

"We must build a coalition of those who share the values to which we are fundamentally attached," he said.