玛丽娜·勒庞将参加法国总统选举

Far-right leader Marine¹ Le Pen says she has secured the support of the 500 elected officials necessary to stand in the French presidential election.

法国极右翼领导人玛丽娜·勒庞称，她已经获得500个选举代表的支持，有资格参加总统选举。

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Marine Le Pen had said she was struggling to win enough endorsements
The National Front candidate, who is third in the opinion polls, said last week she was struggling to find enough endorsements（推荐） to enable her to stand.

The latest poll, by Ifop, puts President Nicolas Sarkozy ahead for the first time in the campaign.

But it gives Socialist³ rival Francois Hollande victory in the second round.

According to the poll, for Europe 1 and Paris Match, Mr Sarkozy would win 28.5% of the vote in the first round on 22 April, while Mr Hollande gets 27% and Ms Le Pen 16%. Centrist candidate Francois Bayrou is on 13%.

But it suggested that Mr Hollande would win the second round in May by a margin⁴ of 54.5% to 45.5%.

'The system lost'

Ms Le Pen had admitted last week that she was having trouble picking up the necessary 500 endorsements before this Friday's deadline, while candidates with far less popular support had relatively⁵ little trouble.

"I have my 500 signatures and therefore I will be a candidate in the presidential election," she told Reuters news agency on Tuesday. The National Front leader is expected to make an official declaration later in one of her electoral strongholds - the Pas de Calais in northern France.

She later tweeted her thanks to the mayors and activists⁶ who had supported her, repeating her view that the establishment had tried to stop her candidacy: "The system that wanted to prevent me has just lost a battle."

Last month, she failed to persuade France's highest court, the Constitutional Council, to overturn the system of public endorsements by officials, in favour of anonymity⁷.

Ms Le Pen has called for a 95% cut in annual immigration but has also broadened her party's traditional anti-immigration agenda to include a call to abandon the euro.