Which French presidential candidate would you most want to camp with?

Jean Lassalle has come out on top in a new poll on which presidential candidate people in France would most like to have a barbecue with on a camping trip.

Mr Lassalle, of the party Résistons !, topped the vote ahead of Emmanuel Macron (La République En Marche) in second and Marine Le Pen (Rassemblement National) in third.

Yannick Jadot of the French Greens party came bottom of the pile, although Anne Hidalgo (Parti socialiste) and Nathalie Arthaud (Lutte Ouvrière) were not included – the poll does not state whether this is due to no one voting for them or another reason.

Ms Le Pen was voted the second favourite candidate ahead of Mr Macron specifically among people who had already been camping before.

However, the biggest percentage of people (31%) among the general public (not including only those who have been camping before), said they would rather not go with any candidate. A further 9% said they did not know.

The poll was commissioned by campings.com and carried out by Ifop. The results were published on April 4.

Who is Jean Lassalle?

Jean Lassalle, 66, is a long-time politician and MP in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department.

He is running to be French president for the second time after a debut effort in 2017 in which he gathered around 435,000 votes (1.2% of total votes).

His policies are closer to centre right, and he campaigns mainly to re-establish political systems and institutions to make them more accessible to the common person, for more local production and for farmers’ rights.

He is widely known in France for a series of antics, such as a 2006 hunger strike in protest of a local factory relocating, a 5,000km walk around France in 2013 to meet the people and for wearing a gilet jaune (yellow vest) in the National Assembly in support of the 2018 protest movement.

He has said in the run-up to this year’s election that he will give all his properties away to an agricultural association if he is elected and does not follow through on certain promises.

This includes his plan to hold three referendums on introducing a citizens' initiative referendum (RIC), reducing VAT on fuel from 20% to 5.5%, and the recognition of blank votes in the election.

Mr Lassalle owns three houses, farmland and a flat.

Read more: French election candidates have to declare their wealth: Here it is

He is also a charismatic speaker, which is complemented by a southwestern accent and his tall stature – he is 190cm.

In a 2015 speech to the National Assembly about a reform to driving tests, he left MPs crying with laughter after recounting his own experience in re-taking his driving test, saying he had to do it three times.

He also shared an anecdote about the tests psychotechniques, which assess a person’s coordination or movement and are necessary if someone loses their licence in France, saying he had to do one as a child and it revealed he had an IQ of “just above zero”.

You can see in the video below a young Emmanuel Macron laughing at Mr Lassalle’s anecdote.