French National elections take place in two rounds of voting 2017. Marine le Pen is widely expected to be one of the final two candidates.

Today she praised the UK for choosing their own destiny and repeated her pledge to have a referendum on France's membership in the EU.

In her first public meeting after a summer break in the tiny village of Brachay in northeastern France, Le Pen portrayed herself as the sole credible defender of law and order and national unity, saying the best way to combat terrorism was the ballot paper.

"This referendum on France belonging to the European Union, I will do it. Yes it is possible to change things. Look at the Brits, they chose their destiny, they chose independence … We can again be a free, proud and independent people," she said.

Le Pen's increasingly popular party thrives on anti-Europe and anti-immigration sentiment and opinion polls see her making it to an early May run-off in France's presidential election, but losing that second round to a mainstream candidate, as a majority of voters do not want her as president.

Can Le Pen Win?

Reuters noted a majority do not want Le Pen to win. That's true enough because a majority do not want any particular candidate to win.

In the US, a majority do not want Hillary or Trump. Voters will have to make a choice anyway.

Many will claim Frexit is "impossible". They said the same thing about "Brexit".

For now, I will go with the majority who believe French socialists will would rather see any other candidate than Le Pen.

That is true today. But it may not be true when it matters, next May.

For more on how the 2017 election shapes up, please see French Economy Minister Resigns to "Regain Freedom"; His Political Party "En March"