I can tell you that I am far from being so sure. Each day that passes, I am more and more afraid that Le Pen wins. That would be disastreous for the country.

The commemoration ceremony for the policeman killed by an attacker in Paris last week "exalted" the concept of gay marriage, presidential candidate Marine Le Pen's father said on Friday, courting controversy for his daughter's campaign.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, the party founder from whom his daughter has sought to distance herself given his controversial views on some subjects, criticised a speech made at the ceremony by the dead policeman's partner earlier this week.

"The long speech he made in some way institutionalised homosexual marriage, exalted it in a public way, and that shocked me," Le Pen said in an interview on his web site.