Far-right candidate yet to secure the 500 signatures needed to qualify for first round of vote. The French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has postponed several campaign events because she is yet to secure the 500 endorsements from elected officials needed to qualify for the first round of the vote. Le Pen, the leader of the nationalist-populist National Rally, is lying second in the polls and is widely considered to be Emmanuel Macron’s most likely opponent in a second-round runoff on 24 April. (…) Le Pen released a video on Monday appealing to mayors to endorse her run and saying she was still 50 names short. According to the Constitutional Council, which receives and verifies the signatures, she has 393 – more than 100 fewer than necessary. The far-right leader told French radio her position was “democratically terrifying”, calling on mayors to endorse her if they “find it really extremely serious that someone who can win this election cannot, for administrative reasons, take part”.
via guardian: Marine Le Pen calls off events and appeals for mayors’ endorsements