A hacker stole sensitive data from a computer in the offices of French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, police said, fuelling his fears that rivals used it to try and keep him out of the presidential race.
The security breach at Le Pen's National Front party headquarters comes as the campaign intensified ahead of the April and May election with several candidates facing smear scandals in recent weeks.
Le Pen, who shocked France by finishing second in the 2002 presidential election, is struggling to secure the backing of at least 500 elected officials needed to run this time round.
He says he has been the target of a well-prepared offensive to persuade the officials, including mayors, not to sign and asked police to open an investigation after suspecting that a mole might have leaked the names of his potential backers.
After a visit to the headquarters of his National Front party on Friday, the police said the list of officials who had agreed to back Le Pen had been stolen by a hacker.
The hacker had gained access using an internet site specializing in breaking entry codes. A National Front employee who used the computer that was hacked into was detained but later released.
News of the electronic break-in, came just a week after the Socialist party demanded an investigation into what it said was a spate of burglaries targeting its campaign team.
Le Pen has until March 16 to gain the sponsorship of at least 500 of France's 42,000 elected representatives, including parliamentarians and mayors, to become a candidate.
He says he is 100 short and has accused a far-right rival of trying to poach his sponsors.
Despite his success in 2002, when he won 16.8 percent of the vote, Le Pen's National Front party does not have any mayors and he has criss-crossed France for months to find backers.
Supporters of mainstream conservative candidate Nicolas Sarkozy have appeared increasingly uneasy at the prospect of Le Pen being blocked from running.
They believe National Front supporters will prove a vital pool of potential voters in an expected second-round run off between Sarkozy and Socialist candidate Segolene Royal, and fear a high abstention rate if Le Pen is shut out of the first round.
Among other candidates who may not make the sponsorship grade are anti-globalization leader Jose Bove who says he has accumulated just
350 signatures. Greens candidate Dominique Voynet says she has 500 pledges, but only 15 returned forms.The candidates fear some mayors will not come good on their promises and say they need at least 600 pledges to feel safe.
Copyright 2007 Reuters Limited.
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