Hollande warns France against voting for Marine Le Pen

French outgoing President Francois Hollande has warned of “the risk for our country’s future” if far-right leader Marine Le Pen were to win the presidential election.

Speaking to voters from the Elysee Palace, the Socialist leader said France is in danger of “becoming isolated and breaking away from the EU” if Le Pen swept to power.

Emmanuel Macron and Le Pen, leader of the National Front (FN), go head-to-head on May 7 after obtaining the most votes in Sunday’s first round.

Opinion polls indicate that the business-friendly Macron, who has never held elected office, will take at least 61 percent of the vote against Le Pen after two defeated rivals pledged to back him to thwart her eurosceptic, anti-immigrant platform.

Hollande is currently the most unpopular president in France’s history and did not seek re-election for himself.

His party’s candidate, Benoit Hamon, was knocked out in the first round of the presidential election on Sunday after receiving just 6% of the vote.

During his address, Hollande claimed the purchasing power of the French people would be directly hit if Le Pen won the run-off vote on 7 May – with “unprecedented price increases” in stores and thousands of jobs being lost.

“Faced with the terrorism threat – that demands solidarity and the cohesion of our country – the far-right would deeply divide France and would stigmatize a part of our citizens due to their origins or their religion,” he said. “It would threaten our freedom and the principles that founded the Republic.”

Macron’s independent En Marche! group won 23.75% of votes in the first round, while Le Pen’s Front National won 21.53%.

Both candidates have now returned to the campaign trail, with less than two weeks to go before French voters return to the ballot boxes.

A move which appeared to be aimed at appealing to a wider range of potential voters, Le Pen announced she was temporarily stepping down as Front National leader in order to focus on her campaign.

She said she wanted to be “above partisan considerations” – with allies calling on those who backed the unsuccessful far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon to continue voting “outside the system” by switching their support to Le Pen.

Meanwhile, Macron’s party spokesman has challenged Le Pen on her claim to being the anti-establishment candidate, taking on the country’s elites.