Marine Le Pen of the National Rally is leading polls for France's presidential election, with support reported at up to 38 percent, six months before the vote. Her first major campaign speech is scheduled for Sunday afternoon, 25 October, under heavy police surveillance, after the party's congress in Orléans, in central France, passed without any major incidents on its first day.
The speech is centred on the theme of renewal. According to what the candidate has reportedly said in private, it is meant to inject a dose of optimism into the National Rally's campaign at an early stage of the race.
Gilles Ivaldi, a political science researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the University of Nice, says the recent wave of violence following protests across France could help the National Rally present itself as the party best placed to restore public safety and national security. In his analysis, the unrest gives the party a theme around which to frame its message as the campaign approaches.
The timing matters for the party's strategy. With the presidential election still six months away, the speech on 25 October is one of the first opportunities for the candidate to set the tone of her campaign, and the security issue raised by the recent protests is likely to remain central to the debate in the months ahead.
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