Le Pen kicks off campaign with promise of French 'freedom'

Opinion polls see the 48-year old daughter of National Front (FN) founder Jean-Marie Le Pen topping the first round on April 23 but then losing the May 7 run-off to a mainstream candidate.

But in the most unpredictable election race France has known in decades, the FN hopes the scandal hitting conservative candidate Francois Fillon and the rise of populism across the West will help convince voters to back Le Pen.

"We were told Donald Trump would never win in the United States against the media, against the establishment, but he won... We were told Marine Le Pen would not win the presidential election, but on May 7 she will win!" Jean-Lin Lacapelle, a top FN official, told several hundred party officials and members.

In 144 "commitments" published at the start of a two-day rally in Lyon, Le Pen proposes leaving the euro zone, holding a referendum on EU membership, slapping taxes on imports and on the job contracts of foreigners, lowering the retirement age and increasing several welfare benefits while lowering income tax.

The manifesto also foresees reserving certain rights now available to all residents, including free education, to French citizens only, hiring 15,000 police, curbing migration and leaving NATO's integrated command.

"The aim of this program is first of all to give France its freedom back and give the people a voice," Le Pen said in the introduction to the manifesto.

Emmanuel Macron, a pro-European centrist candidate who polls say is likely to face Le Pen in the presidential election run-off, will also hold a rally in Lyon on Saturday to propose a radically different platform.

Opinion polls suggest Macron would easily beat Le Pen in the second round, but faith in pollsters has been shaken after they failed to predict Trump's election win or Britain's vote last June to leave the European Union.

Former frontrunner Fillon has been damaged by allegations, which he denies, that he paid his wife hundreds of thousands of euros of public money for work she may not actually have done. A poll on Saturday showed the conservative slipping to third place in round one.

The FN officials taking to the stage targeted Macron more than any other of Le Pen's opponents, presenting the former investment banker as the candidate of "international capitalism." The crowd booed his name every time.

"This presidential election puts two opposite proposals," Le Pen said in her manifesto. "The 'globalist' choice backed by all my opponents ... and the 'patriotic' choice which I personify."

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