Excerpt:
With the polls narrowing and one of her main rivals embroiled in an expenses scandal, far-right leader Marine Le Pen could feasibly become French president in May, senior politicians and commentators say.
At the headquarters of her National Front (FN) party in Nanterre outside Paris, officials believe the same forces that led to the Brexit vote in Britain and Donald Trump's victory in the United States could carry Le Pen to power.
Even some of her rivals concede a victory for the far-right firebrand is possible.
"I think Madame Le Pen could be elected," former conservative prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said this month.