France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen said on Friday that Kylian Mbappe should not be telling the French how to vote after the soccer star warned that the country could not be left “in the hands of these people”.
After the far-right National Rally party emerged victorious in the first round of snap parliamentary elections last weekend, Mbappe, 25, said the results were “disastrous” and called on the French to vote against the far-right in a run-off vote on Sunday.
Mbappe’s France and Christian Ronaldo’s Portugal meet in the quarter-finals of Euro 2024 in Hamburg on Friday night.
Speaking in an interview with CNN, Le Pen said he was a “very good” footballer, but insisted it was not for him to give voting instructions.
– Mbappe does not represent the French with an immigrant background, because there are many more of them who live on the minimum wage, who cannot afford housing and cannot afford heating, but people like Mr. Mbappe – Le Pen said in an excerpt from an interview published on Friday.
– This tendency for actors, footballers and singers to come forward and tell the French how they should vote, especially to people who earn 1,300 or 1,400 euros, while they are millionaires or even billionaires living abroad, is beginning to be poorly received in our country – she added. .
– The French are fed up with being lectured and advised on how to vote. These elections are elections of emancipation where the French want to regain control of their destiny and vote as they see fit – said Le Pen.
– I think that at the moment when the population is preparing to vote, they (stars and celebrities) should show some restraint – she added.
The latest forecasts predict that her party will have the largest bloc in the lower house of the National Assembly, but will fall short of an absolute majority.
A number of prominent footballers, including French defender Jules Kounde, have called on the French to block the far right.
