Bardot calls on mayors to be brave
Actress steps in to support Marine Le Pen as she falls short of numbers to join presidential election
FORMER actress Brigitte Bardot has written to French mayors calling on them to "have a little courage for once in their lives" and support Front National leader Marine Le Pen.
Her letter to mayors has been revealed after the Conseil Constitutionnel rejected a call from Le Pen to give anonymity to elected officials signing parrainages, references for presidential candidates.
She says she is still short of the required 500 signatures to allow her to stand officially in the presidential election in 60 days, with only 440 ready to sign.
Others are thought to have been unwilling to support her in any visible way and the signatures have to be ready by March 16 or Le Pen will not be allowed to stand.
Ms Bardot is known for her nationalist tendancies and has regularly denounced the "Islamisation" of France.
Published this morning in newspaper Nice-Matin, her letter says the Le Pen "is one of the front-runners for the presidential election, defends animals and has the courage to give our country, La France, the place it should take in the world".
This week Le Pen claimed - wrongly - that all the meat distributed in Paris was halal slaughtered in the ritual Islamic way in which the animals are not stunned. Bardot has denounced this practice.
Related story:
Meat bosses deny halal claims
How the French elections work
Link to Nice-Matin website
