PROVOCATIVE COMMENTS

Zemmour led Le Pen for a while in recent weeks, and the race for the number two spot is still neck-andneck in some surveys.

But at this stage, most opinion polls forecast that Macron and Le Pen will face each other in the second round next April, which Macron would likely win in a repeat of the 2017 election.

A Harris Interactive poll published on Tuesday - with people surveyed before Zemmour confirmed his widely expected candidacy - showed him down three to four percentage points at around 13% of voting intentions, pointing to the impact of various recent mishaps.

One was at the weekend, when he was photographed giving the middle finger to a protester following a tumultuous campaign stop in Marseille.