
Angry French voters will choose Marine Le Pen as their next president, supporters say, as her far right Front National party enjoys a surge in popularity following the election of Donald Trump.

The party - which has seen its support triple in five years - insists it is not racist, but tapping into disillusionment and a demand for a new type of right wing politics.

‘I believe Marine Le Pen can be the next president of France,’ said Front National spokesman Georges Michel. ‘Things have to change!’

Ground down by unemployment, terrified by two Islamic terrorist attacks in less than a year and confronted by high levels of immigration from North Africa, France’s working classes are looking for fresh ideas.

MailOnline visited the forgotten towns and villages of the south of France that is the heartland of FN to peer behind the gloss of the far-right party and investigate whether Marine has the support necessary to propel her into the Elysee Palace.

Scroll down for video

Support: Angry French voters will choose Marine Le Pen as their next president, her supporters say, as Front National enjoys a surge in popularity following election of Donald Trump. Front National spokesman Georges Michel, pictured, told MailOnline: ‘I believe Marine Le Pen can be the next president of France. Things have to change!'

Surge in popularity: Fear of unemployment, terrorism and immigration means France’s working classes are looking for fresh ideas. Pictured: Marine Le Pen (left) and her niece Marion Marechal-Le Pen (right), the new darling of the party

Ignored: MailOnline visited the ignored towns and villages of the south of France that is the heartland of the Front National to peer behind the gloss of the far-right party. Pictured: The village of Grambois in Vaucluse which has a refugee camp nearby

'Revolution': With support tripling in five years, Le Pen has predicted she will become leader of France in the third part of a ‘global’ revolution after Brexit and Trump's unexpected win. Pictured: People at a refugee camp near Grambois in Vaucluse

Future: Confidence in the Front National comes as France's prime minister Manuel Valls admitted it was 'possible' Le Pen had a chance of winning next year's presidential election. Pictured: Front National heartland where party enjoys great support

Le Pen has predicted she will become leader of France in the third part of a ‘global’ revolution after Brexit and Trump's unexpected win.

‘The Front National is not a racialist party,’ Mr Michel, party assistant secretary in the Vaucluse department, where the Front National holds one of only two parliamentary seats told MailOnline.

‘We are a French sovereign party, which believes France is a Christian country based on European culture and traditions.

‘You do not have to be white to be French, think of the people in [the French Caribbean department] Martinique. But we are against the growing influence of Muslims and Islam on our culture.

The Front National is not a racialist party. You do not have to be white to be French... but we are against the growing influence of Muslims and Islam on our culture. George Michel, Front National

‘How can it be right that there are Islamic courts in France and some areas of our inner cities can no longer be considered as France?’

Confidence in Front National comes as France's prime minister admitted it was 'possible' that Le Pen had a chance of winning next year's presidential election.

At a conference in Berlin Manuel Valls said he was 'struck by the tone of the public debate'.

Le Pen has worked hard to create a new-look far-right Front National, rebranding it as anti-EU, anti-globalisation rather than anti-Semitic or anti-immigrant.

‘I wish that in France also the people up-end the table, the table around which the elite are dividing up what should go to the French people,’ Miss Le Pen told the BBC’s Andrew Marr this week.

MailOnline discovered a widespread rejection of France’s traditional political parties and growing belief that the Front National should be given a chance.

Support and fear: While a growing number of French people such as retired builder Pierre Roche (left) are looking for something different, mosque elder Mohamed Saoudi (right) is worried his French born children will be ostracised

The grey vote: Like Donald Trump and the Vote-Leaver campaigners in the UK, the Front National has a wealth of support among older voters. Pictured: Georges Michel at NF offices in Carpentras

‘After 40 years of the same thing it’s time for a change,’ said retired builder Pierre Roche, 66.

‘I’m a Front National supporter. The [traditional] politicians have done nothing for us.’

I don’t like Donald Trump, I’ve got nothing good to say about him, but his election victory has shown that the little people can win... It is time for French people to stand up for ourselves or we are going to be taken over by Muslims. I keep a gun under my bed to defend myself. Carol Flaindin, 65

Carol Flaindin, 65, added: ‘What have we got to lose by voting for the Front National?

‘I don’t like Donald Trump, I’ve got nothing good to say about him, but his election victory has shown that the little people can win.

‘And us French people have had enough – enough immigration, enough crime, enough terrorism.

‘We must stop the politicians from treating the French people like fools.

‘It is time for French people to stand up for ourselves or we are going to be taken over by Muslims. I keep a gun under my bed to defend myself.’

Like Donald Trump and the Vote-Leaver campaigners the Front National has a wealth of support among older voters.

Daniel Martin, 69, retired businessman told MailOnline: ‘I have supported the Front National for years.

Can she win? According to French commentators, Marine Le Pen (above) is expected to receive the highest number of votes in the first round of the election in April but will be resoundingly beaten in the second round when voters choose between the two leading candidates

French first: Disillusioned men and women have told MailOnline how they are preparing to vote for Le Pen. Mother-of-four Christine Do Carmo (above) said: ‘I am struggling to bring up four kids and the government hands out money to foreigners who have just arrived here. Le Pen says ‘French people first’. I agree with that.’

‘Of course I am going to vote for Marine Le Pen as president.

‘We need to urgent action on immigration, violence, crime. Only the Front National can sort this out, send back all of the foreigners.’

Tucked away in a side street of the historic town of Carpentras, Mr Michel holds court in the constituency office of Marion Marechal-Le Pen – the Front National’s blonde bombshell poster girl and niece of leader Marine Le Pen.

Elected aged just 22 in 2012 Marion Marechal-Le Pen became France’s youngest depute, France’s version of MP, and one of only two Front National parliamentary representatives.

Her startling good looks, combative style and closeness to party founder, Jean-Marie Le Pen, her grandfather, has catapulted her to the centre stage and sent her party soaring in the polls.

In December last year she was the front-runner in the first round of elections of the Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur regional elections scoring more than 40 per cent of the vote, one of six first round victories nationwide.

She was defeated in the second round but still managed to increase her poll by another five per cent.

French political commentators insist that the 2017 presidential elections will follow the same course.

Marine Le Pen is expected to receive the highest number of votes in the first round of the election in April but will be resoundingly beaten the second round when voters choose between the two leading candidates.

Immigration remains a concern for people including Chantal (above left) said: ‘The European Union was a good idea but now it is not working'. Shopkeeper Christine (right) added: ‘Le Pen could well win because... We’ve had enough of mass immigration'

Heartland support: The Front National has almost tripled in popularity in just five years, voting figures have revealed. Pictured: Village of Grambois in heartland of FN support

Growing support: FN won over six million votes in the first round of the 2015 regional elections - almost three times as many as 2010 when it received 2.2 million, rising from 11 per cent to 28 per cent of poll. Pictured: Migrants at a refugee camp in Vaucluse, southern France

Concern: Not everyone is pleased by the rise of the right wing. Mohamed Saoudi (pictured) said all his children were born in France and was scared by rise of Front National: ‘When FN tells us to ‘go home’, our home is France'

But the Front National could confound the opinion polls – similar to the Trump and Brexit victories.

It is already the biggest single French party in the European Parliament, taking 24 of the 74 seats in the 2014 poll.

Disillusioned men and women revealed how they are now preparing to vote for Le Pen and would love to see the far-right party leader as President.

Le Pen could well win because the French people have had enough. We’ve had enough of mass immigration. You work hard all your life and then you have to pay the upkeep of someone who has just got here. Christine, shop-keeper

Mother-of-four Christine Do Carmo told MailOnline: ‘I agree with a lot of the things that Le Pen says.

'I am struggling to bring up four kids and the government hands out money to foreigners who have just arrived here. How can that be right?

‘We have had enough. Le Pen says ‘French people first’. I agree with that.’

Chantal, who is married to a baker, said: ‘The European Union was a good idea but now it is not working. Le Pen says we should adapt Europe to make it work for us, otherwise we should leave the EU. I agree with that.’

Shopkeeper Christine added: ‘Le Pen could well win because the French people have had enough. We’ve had enough of mass immigration.

'You work hard all your life and then you have to pay the upkeep of someone who has just got here.’

On Thursday, Jean-Marie Le Pen - Marine's 88-year-old father who was convicted racist and anti-Semite - was allowed to remain Honorary President of the party.

He was expelled from the party last year after referring to the Holocaust as ‘a detail of history’ but a court decided he can 'participate fully' in the runnings of the party.

Although Marine Le Pen has tried to distance herself from her father, he still has a lot of support from the more extreme wing of FN.

Running for office: Marine Le Pen is the most popular right-wing politician in France, an opinion poll for the France 2 TV network found recently. Pictured: The office of her niece Marion Marechal Le Pen

Tunisian migrant worker Karem Aniba said no one wanted to do the work he does: ‘The Front National say they want to send Arabs like me back home but if there were no Arabs to work on the farms, the fruit and vegetables would rot in the fields’

In the southern town of Beaucaire, the FN mayor was taken to court last year accused of victimising Arab shopkeepers by ordering them to close at night during Ramadan due to ‘noise concerns’.

But not everyone in the area is pleased with the rise of the right wing.

In the Front National-controlled town of Frejus, Insaf Rezagui, a young female socialist party worker accused far-right supporters of an online campaign of harassment that included death and rape threats.

And a Muslim leader described the prospect of a Front National presidency as a ‘catastrophe’.

Mosque elder Mohamed Saoudi, 66, who is originally from Morocco, told MailOnline: ‘If Le Pen got into power it would be bad not only for France’s Muslims but all French people, a catastrophe. They are a fascist organisation.

‘They want to create discord and pit neighbour against neighbour.

‘The Front National has blamed Muslims for the terrorist atrocities that happened recently in France but the people who did these things are not Muslims, Islam is completely against violence.

‘I fear there is a 90 per cent chance that Le Pen could become president.

‘I spent my whole working life building the infrastructure of France, telecoms, roads, water pipes. My grandfather fought for France in World War II. My children are French. They were born here. When they go to Morocco they are on holiday, in a foreign country.

‘When FN tells us to ‘go home’, our home is France.

‘The French president should work for all French citizens – Christians, Muslims, Jews, everyone, not just one group.’

Tunisian migrant worker Karem Aniba added: ‘I work hard in the fields every day for ten or twelve hours.

‘The Front National say they want to send Arabs like me back home but if there were no Arabs to work on the farms, the fruit and vegetables would rot in the fields.’

The Front National has almost tripled in popularity in just five years, voting figures show.

The party got over six million votes in the first round of the 2015 regional elections almost three times as many as in 2010 when it received 2.2 million, growing from 11 per cent to 28 per of the poll.

Back in the fold: On Thursday, a court ruled that the Front National's disgraced founder Jean-Marie Le Pen (above) - Marine's father and convicted racist and anti-Semite - was allowed to remain Honorary President of the party

Poll support: The latest opinion polls give the Front National 29 per cent of the vote, suggesting leader Marine Le Pen is almost certain to reach the second-round run-off for the Presidency in May next year, the poll for Le Figaro newspaper found in September

Marine Le Pen is the most popular right-wing politician in France, an opinion poll for the France 2 TV network found last month.

The Far Right leader had stronger poll figures than former president Nicolas Sarkozy and is to the heels of conservative front-runner Alain Juppe.

The latest opinion polls give the Front National 29 per cent of the vote, suggesting leader Marine Le Pen is almost certain to reach the second-round run-off for the Presidency in May next year, the poll for Le Figaro newspaper found in September.