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Natalie Nougayrède said the nomination of centre-right Francois Fillion for French president “represents a new king of reactionary”. Opinion polls have put Mr Fillion as the clear favourite to beat rival Marine Le Pen next year's election. He won some of his best results in the primaries on Sunday in Front National strongholds with his social conservatism and tough stance on immigration, stealing some of Ms Le Pen’s votes. The Republican nominee draws much of his support from conservative Catholics, but Ms Nougayrède warns their politics overlaps with that of Ms Le Pen’s Front National.

AFP GETTY Francois Fillon has drawn on support from conservative Catholics to go against rival Marine Le Pen

Anyone who thinks that Fillon’s success clears the ground for a resounding defeat of far-right ideas in France’s 2017 presidential race should think again Natalie Nougayrède

Writing for The Guardian, Ms Nougayrède said: “Anyone who thinks that Fillon’s success clears the ground for a resounding defeat of far-right ideas in France’s 2017 presidential race should think again. “Fillon’s most active support base has come essentially from hardline, traditionalist Catholics – people who generally aren’t described as far-right, in the sense that they don’t affiliate themselves with Marine Le Pen’s Front National. But some of their ideas do overlap.”

Looking to the recent US election and Vladimir Putin’s close ties with the Orthodox church, the commentator said: “European liberal democrats tend to worry about the danger coming from far-right would-be autocrats – but that’s not the full picture. “The rise of ultra-conservative religious, Christian movements must now be looked at more closely. “In France, pundits and parts of the media were caught off guard by it. “In the US, white Christian anger has stood at the heart of the Tea Party and the Christian right – groups that have now gained a President-elect. “A somewhat similar type of thinking seems to be making inroads in France, plugging into a historical legacy of deeply entrenched right-wing Catholic networks.”

AFP GETTY Francois Fillon is favourite to be president, according to the latest opinion polls

AFP Vladimir Putin meets with Francois Fillon in 2013

Mr Putin praised Mr Fillon, who served as prime minister of France between 2007 and 2012 under the premiership of Nicolas Sarkozy, following his nomination win. He said: “We worked together with Francois when he headed the French government, and I chaired the Russian government... we had a lot of meetings, and have developed certain personal relations, very kind ones.” Ms Nougayrède said Mr Putin and the Orthodox church’s religious and reactionary message that Christianity is under threat from Islam, “resonates strongly in outwardly secular France, a country still traumatised by jihadi terrorist attacks”. The Russian president applauded Mr Fillon for being a “tough negotiator” and “an ultimate professional and a decent man”.

AFP Ms Nougayrède warned some of Fillon's supporters' politics overlaps with Front National supporters

This was praise that was “no coincidence” according to Ms Nougayrède who says “Putin detects in Fillon streaks of his own ultra-conservative ideology.” With the success of Donald Trump in the US and a rising populist movement across the EU, Ms Nougayrède said: “The new reactionaries believe they can widen their reach more than the organised far right can do, because at first glance they aren’t as toxic or threatening to democracy. “This will surely be Fillon’s strategy in France. Yet beneath that veneer of respectability, these groups carry a fair dose of bigotry and social regression.”

GETTY Current opinion polls suggest Ms Le Pen will win the first round of voting

Things you didn't know about Marine Le Pen Fri, May 5, 2017 Marine Le Pen is a French politician who is the president of the National Front, a national-conservative political party in France and one of its main political forces. Play slideshow AFP/Getty Images 1 of 10 Described as more democratic and republican than her nationalist father, she has led a movement of "de-demonization of the Front National" to detoxify it and soften its image