Nigel Farage, a British Member of the European Union (EU) Parliament and Chairman of the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy EU political group, has endorsed nationalist candidate Marine Le Pen for president of France. The Independent reports:

Nigel Farage has endorsed far-right politician Marine Le Pen to win the French presidential election, arguing that her victory would be good for the UK. The former Ukip leader said the politician’s election would hasten the disintegration of the European Union and that she was “enthusiastic” about a trade deal with the UK. …“I have no doubt that a Le Pen victory would give the EU an even bigger headache than the UK voting for Brexit, which is why the European Commission is openly backing Macron. …Mr Farage also predicted that if Ms Le Pen did not win in 2017 she would win the next French presidential election in 2022. The Ukip MEP, who still leads his party’s group in the European Parliament, added: “Her victory would take much of the pressure off our negotiations. She will put France first and take her country out of the euro, which has damaged their competitiveness. “A Le Pen victory would be the beginning of the end for this failed project.”

Hours before last night’s televised debate with globalist and open-borders advocate Emmanuel Macron, which Politico described as “nasty, brutish and long,” CBS reports that SocialFlow bucked trends in showing that Le Pen was essentially even with Macron in the presidential race. Media-cited polls generally show her to be about 15 – 20 points back of Macron. CBS reports:

[A] social media company released data showing the diametrically opposed candidates with near equal support. SocialFlow co-founder Frank Speiser says data examining mentions of both candidates on Facebook and other social media platforms in the week leading up to the election suggest they are running in a “virtual dead heat,” and thus “any attempts to call an early victor in the election now would be absolute conjecture.” While SocialFlow’s data do not discern between positive and negative mentions on Facebook, Speiser says the company used similar methodology to accurately predict Britain’s vote to break away from the European Union (Brexit), “to the exact percentage,” and Mr. Trump’s landslide win in November — both of which took most traditional pollsters by surprise.

UPDATE: CNN reports on Le Pen’s strongest strike against Macron in last night’s debate. This quip seems to sum up the entire election remarkably well:

On a night marred by insults, one stood out. “France will be led by a woman, either me or Mrs Merkel,” Marine Le Pen said of her opponent, Emmanuel Macron, during a two-hour grudge match on French television as the presidential campaign entered its closing days. It was a deft jibe, emasculating Macron, and at the same time playing into her supporters’ fears of a France crushed by a German-dominated Europe. It would have resonated in Brussels, too, where the prospect of a Le Pen presidency brings eurocrats out in cold sweats. During the campaign, Le Pen has railed against an imperious EU, suggested France would leave the euro, and promised to hold a referendum on France’s continued membership of the bloc.