History tells us Le Pen has no chance of winning the French election: Publicis CEO
No-one in France's business sector believes populist presidential candidate Marine Le Pen will win the presidency in the upcoming general election, the chief executive of France's Publicis (: )group told CNBC Tuesday.
"No-one in business really believes, at least in France, that Marine Le Pen will make it," Maurice Levy, chief executive of Publicis, told CNBC on Tuesday.
Le Pen, leader of the anti-immigration National Front party, has promised to renegotiate the terms of France's membership of the European Union if elected president, though her chances of success appear limited.
"Clearly she is leading in the first round but if you look at history and what has been the case (for) many years there is no chance that she is getting elected," Levy added.
Elections for the new French president are due to take place in a two-round process beginning in April and ending in May.
Levy, who is due to step down in June, was speaking with CNBC on Tuesday ahead of the group's Viva Tech event which is aiming to become the largest tech event in Europe. The chief executive stressed France has been the number one country on the continent in terms of supporting tech start-up companies and expected around 5,000 start-ups to attend this year.
The world's third largest advertising group reported weaker than expected underlying sales in the final three months of 2016 on February 9. Publicis had cited a challenging calendar year that led to a write-down to part of its digital business as a key factor in the earnings result.
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