Marine Le Pen will hold referendums on key issues, such as the restoration of the death penalty if she is elected French president, as she has vowed to “let people talk” on issues that matter to them.
“I want the referendum to become a classic operational tool,” said the 53-year-old Eurosceptic nationalist, who is in an intense battle with incumbent President Emmanuel Macron ahead of the second round of voting on April 24th.
The candidate for the national rally said that the vote for the death penalty is on the table because “there is no forbidden debate in the great, mature democracy.” She added: “It’s not dangerous to let people talk, it’s dangerous not to let them.”
This is not the first time Ms Le Pen has raised the prospect of reinstating the death penalty, which France abolished in 1981, 16 years after Britain.
She mentioned it in 2012 and dropped it at the last minute of her 2017 manifesto. Earlier, she said she would personally vote against the reinstatement of the death penalty. The latest poll found that 55% of French people would be in favor of his return.
Critics said such a move would lead to France’s immediate exclusion from the European Union, as the abolition of the death penalty is a requirement for EU membership.
Ms Le Pen made it clear that she would lead to a “referendum revolution” if she won the keys to the Elysee Palace.
One of her first moves would be to hold a vote called “Citizenship, Identity and Immigration”. Its aim would be to enshrine in the French constitution the principle of “national priority”, in which French citizens have priority for jobs, wealth and housing.
Critics say the very notion of national priority violates the French constitution and the Declaration of Human Rights because it discriminates against foreigners who are legally in the country and must share the same rights as French citizens.
Constitutionalists say such a referendum will first require support from a majority in the upper and lower houses of parliament. Analysts say this is an unlikely prospect and doubt Ms Le Pen will secure a parliamentary majority in the June legislative elections.
Any attempt to limit such a procedure would provoke a major institutional crisis and a “constitutional coup,” according to lawyer Jean-Philippe Derosier.
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