Editing National Rally (section)

==== Presidential run-off (2002) ====
[[File:200109 Présidentielles 2002 122.jpg|thumb|Logo for Le Pen's 2002 presidential campaign]]
For the [[2002 French presidential election|2002 presidential election]], opinion polls had predicted a run-off between incumbent President Chirac and Socialist candidate [[Lionel Jospin]].<ref name=tel1 />{{sfn|Shields|2007|p=281}} In a shock outcome, Le Pen outperformed Jospin (by 0.7%) in the 1st round, placing second and advancing to the runoff.{{sfn|Shields|2007|p=281}} This resulted in the first presidential run-off since 1969 without a leftist candidate and the first ever with a candidate from the far-right.{{sfn|Shields|2007|p=282}} To Le Pen's advantage, the election campaign had increasingly focused on law-and-order issues, helped by media attention on a number of violent incidents.{{sfn|Shields|2007|p=283}} Jospin had also been weakened due to the competition between an exceptional number of leftist parties.{{sfn|Shields|2007|p=284}} Nevertheless, Chirac did not even have to campaign in the second round, as widespread anti-Le Pen protests from the media and public opinion culminated on [[May Day]] in a demonstration of 1.5 million participants across France.{{sfn|Shields|2007|pp=288 f}} Chirac also refused to debate with Le Pen, and the traditional televised debate was cancelled.{{sfn|Shields|2007|p=289}} In the end, Chirac won the presidential run-off with an unprecedented 82.2% of the vote, with 71% of his votes—according to polls—cast simply "to block Le Pen".{{sfn|Shields|2007|p=289}} Following the presidential election, the main centre-right parties merged to form the broad-based [[Union for a Popular Movement]] (UMP).{{sfn|Shields|2007|p=291}} The FN failed to hold on to Le Pen's support for the [[2002 French legislative election|2002 legislative elections]], in which it got 11.3% of the vote.{{sfn|Shields|2007|pp=291–293}} It nevertheless outpolled Mégret's MNR, which had fielded the same number of candidates but won a mere 1.1% support.{{sfn|Shields|2007|pp=292 f}}