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| Le Pen again: new face of French far right has familiar surname | Le Pen again: new face of French far right has familiar surname |
| (30 days later) | |
| Amid the hanging flower baskets and stone fountains of a picturesque small market town in Provence, the new young face of the French far right meandered from stall to stall, smiling shyly. "Here's my flyer; I'm not photoshopped," she said to one cheese seller. "Don't worry, that will come with time, dear," came the response. | Amid the hanging flower baskets and stone fountains of a picturesque small market town in Provence, the new young face of the French far right meandered from stall to stall, smiling shyly. "Here's my flyer; I'm not photoshopped," she said to one cheese seller. "Don't worry, that will come with time, dear," came the response. |
| Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, 22, is the newest face in France's far-right Le Pen dynasty, the third generation to run for election as she campaigns for this month's parliamentary race. She is the granddaugher of Jean-Marie Le Pen and the niece of Marine Le Pen, the new party leader, who won the party's highest ever presidential election score of 17.9% in April. | Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, 22, is the newest face in France's far-right Le Pen dynasty, the third generation to run for election as she campaigns for this month's parliamentary race. She is the granddaugher of Jean-Marie Le Pen and the niece of Marine Le Pen, the new party leader, who won the party's highest ever presidential election score of 17.9% in April. |
| As the young Le Pen passed, a 63-year-old farmer, reduced to selling punnets of strawberries out of the back of his van amid what he called "lunatic practices of supermarket giants importing fruit from Mexico", beamed proudly. For 30 years, he had had a Jean-Marie Le Pen bumper sticker on his car in honour of the former leader of the far-right Front National. He felt France was at last "waking up" to the reality that only the far right could save the country from "becoming Muslim". But others were far harder to convince. "Fascists!" exclaimed one shopper, refusing to take a leaflet. "You'll have to come up with a new insult," muttered the young candidate to herself. | As the young Le Pen passed, a 63-year-old farmer, reduced to selling punnets of strawberries out of the back of his van amid what he called "lunatic practices of supermarket giants importing fruit from Mexico", beamed proudly. For 30 years, he had had a Jean-Marie Le Pen bumper sticker on his car in honour of the former leader of the far-right Front National. He felt France was at last "waking up" to the reality that only the far right could save the country from "becoming Muslim". But others were far harder to convince. "Fascists!" exclaimed one shopper, refusing to take a leaflet. "You'll have to come up with a new insult," muttered the young candidate to herself. |
| For decades the Le Pen family has been a kind of soap opera of the French far right, photographed and scrutinised at every turn. Jean-Marie often wheeled out his three blond daughters to symbolise the true French nation. In the 1980s Le Pen's gruesome public divorce battle saw his ex-wife pose in Playboy for revenge. The Le Pen daughters stayed close to the party, and married and divorced Front National figures. | For decades the Le Pen family has been a kind of soap opera of the French far right, photographed and scrutinised at every turn. Jean-Marie often wheeled out his three blond daughters to symbolise the true French nation. In the 1980s Le Pen's gruesome public divorce battle saw his ex-wife pose in Playboy for revenge. The Le Pen daughters stayed close to the party, and married and divorced Front National figures. |
| Against this backdrop Maréchal-Le Pen has attracted camera crews as she runs to be potentially the youngest French MP since the French revolutionary Louis-Antoine Saint-Just, in 1791. Her parents are Le Pen's second daughter, Yann, and Samuel Maréchal, who once led the Front National youth movement. But as well as her opponents' charges that she has been parachuted into a constituency she has few links to, she is also facing claims that she is just running to please her relatives. | Against this backdrop Maréchal-Le Pen has attracted camera crews as she runs to be potentially the youngest French MP since the French revolutionary Louis-Antoine Saint-Just, in 1791. Her parents are Le Pen's second daughter, Yann, and Samuel Maréchal, who once led the Front National youth movement. But as well as her opponents' charges that she has been parachuted into a constituency she has few links to, she is also facing claims that she is just running to please her relatives. |
| The day before her early morning leafletting in this part of rural southern France, Maréchal-Le Pen, who is still at university, was sitting a law exam in Paris. She is running in a corner of Vaucluse where Marine Le Pen took her highest constituency-wide score in the presidential vote: 31.5%. Hard right ideas have historically had a hold here, an area which was once the fruit basket of France but has seen local agriculture dying, rising unemployment and poverty. | The day before her early morning leafletting in this part of rural southern France, Maréchal-Le Pen, who is still at university, was sitting a law exam in Paris. She is running in a corner of Vaucluse where Marine Le Pen took her highest constituency-wide score in the presidential vote: 31.5%. Hard right ideas have historically had a hold here, an area which was once the fruit basket of France but has seen local agriculture dying, rising unemployment and poverty. |
| Decades ago immigrants, including many from north Africa, arrived to work on farms or build power stations, and their descendants are long French born and bred. But fears persist on the right about the dangers of mass immigration. Maréchal-Le Pen has a chance of winning, and becoming France's first Front National MP in decades, despite a difficult battle against the favourite, the incumbent, from the right wing of Sarkozy's UMP party, who has won six successive parliamentary elections. | Decades ago immigrants, including many from north Africa, arrived to work on farms or build power stations, and their descendants are long French born and bred. But fears persist on the right about the dangers of mass immigration. Maréchal-Le Pen has a chance of winning, and becoming France's first Front National MP in decades, despite a difficult battle against the favourite, the incumbent, from the right wing of Sarkozy's UMP party, who has won six successive parliamentary elections. |
| "In the family, no one is ever pushed. I came to politics spontaneously, there was no obligation. It has to happen naturally," Maréchal-Le Pen said. From 17, she worked on municipal and regional campaigns in the greater Paris area, when she once famously burst into tears after political questioning from camera crews. | "In the family, no one is ever pushed. I came to politics spontaneously, there was no obligation. It has to happen naturally," Maréchal-Le Pen said. From 17, she worked on municipal and regional campaigns in the greater Paris area, when she once famously burst into tears after political questioning from camera crews. |
| The word dynasty "makes me laugh" she said, citing a long list of French political families, including the Socialist leader Martine Aubry, daughter of European commissioner Jacques Delors. "I believe in the law of the strongest, and the real possibility of my election here means the opposition has become more virulent," she said. She insisted her aunt and her grandfather had not coached her. Le Pen senior simply said: "Be yourself, that's only thing that works in politics." | The word dynasty "makes me laugh" she said, citing a long list of French political families, including the Socialist leader Martine Aubry, daughter of European commissioner Jacques Delors. "I believe in the law of the strongest, and the real possibility of my election here means the opposition has become more virulent," she said. She insisted her aunt and her grandfather had not coached her. Le Pen senior simply said: "Be yourself, that's only thing that works in politics." |
| It was Jean-Marie Le Pen, 84 (pictured below) who pressed his granddaughter to run in this symbolic seat. The constituency includes southern Carpentras, the town where in 1990 the Front National was accused of being indirectly responsible for the desecration of a Jewish cemetery by neo-Nazi skinheads. Le Pen, recently convicted of contesting crimes against humanity for saying the Nazi occupation was not "particularly inhumane", denied any role in inspiring the desecration and sees a possible parliamentary win as a vindication. Maréchal-Le Pen, who was six months old at the time of the attack, said her grandfather's name was wrongly sullied in Carpentras and never "publicly cleansed", that her election would be "a wink at history". But she avoids campaigning on the issue. | It was Jean-Marie Le Pen, 84 (pictured below) who pressed his granddaughter to run in this symbolic seat. The constituency includes southern Carpentras, the town where in 1990 the Front National was accused of being indirectly responsible for the desecration of a Jewish cemetery by neo-Nazi skinheads. Le Pen, recently convicted of contesting crimes against humanity for saying the Nazi occupation was not "particularly inhumane", denied any role in inspiring the desecration and sees a possible parliamentary win as a vindication. Maréchal-Le Pen, who was six months old at the time of the attack, said her grandfather's name was wrongly sullied in Carpentras and never "publicly cleansed", that her election would be "a wink at history". But she avoids campaigning on the issue. |
| At the market some told her: "Your grandad had the right ideas, but expressed them wrong." "Different generation, different style," she explained, even if she said she was proud of her grandfather's integrity. | At the market some told her: "Your grandad had the right ideas, but expressed them wrong." "Different generation, different style," she explained, even if she said she was proud of her grandfather's integrity. |
| Maréchal-Le Pen's campaign topics match those of her aunt: cutting immigration, crime and insecurity, promising protectionism against globalisation and most of all protecting the French "identity" and "way of life". She says immigration should be limited drastically as France "can't assimilate our immigrant population and finance their lifestyle and identity demands as well". With the poverty and death of agriculture, she warns that this corner of France "is what France could look like in 10 years". But while her aunt wants a referendum on bringing back the death penalty, Maréchal-Le Pen is against it. | Maréchal-Le Pen's campaign topics match those of her aunt: cutting immigration, crime and insecurity, promising protectionism against globalisation and most of all protecting the French "identity" and "way of life". She says immigration should be limited drastically as France "can't assimilate our immigrant population and finance their lifestyle and identity demands as well". With the poverty and death of agriculture, she warns that this corner of France "is what France could look like in 10 years". But while her aunt wants a referendum on bringing back the death penalty, Maréchal-Le Pen is against it. |
| At the other end of the market Roger Martin, a local teacher running for the hard-left Front de Gauche, warned of a climate in France where myths about immigrant criminals and so-called benefits spongers were taking hold. | At the other end of the market Roger Martin, a local teacher running for the hard-left Front de Gauche, warned of a climate in France where myths about immigrant criminals and so-called benefits spongers were taking hold. |
| "Ninety per cent of immigrants in France pay taxes, they bring in much more than they cost," he said. "Marion is not aggressive like her grandfather. But the big difference is that Jean-Marie Le Pen didn't want power, he wanted to be a counter-power. Now Marine Le Pen's party wants to get to the heart of power and to me that's a problem." | "Ninety per cent of immigrants in France pay taxes, they bring in much more than they cost," he said. "Marion is not aggressive like her grandfather. But the big difference is that Jean-Marie Le Pen didn't want power, he wanted to be a counter-power. Now Marine Le Pen's party wants to get to the heart of power and to me that's a problem." |
| Party's targets | Party's targets |
| In French parliamentary elections on 10 and 17 June the left needs to win a majority of seats to ensure the Socialist president, François Hollande, can implement his manifesto. Polls predict the Socialists will narrowly beat Nicolas Sarkozy's right-wing UMP party. But the Front National, led by Marine Le Pen, hopes to capitalise on her historically high presidential score of 6.4m votes to see her party sit in parliament for the first time since 1986. The last FN MP was elected in 1997 but the result was annulled over funding irregularities. | In French parliamentary elections on 10 and 17 June the left needs to win a majority of seats to ensure the Socialist president, François Hollande, can implement his manifesto. Polls predict the Socialists will narrowly beat Nicolas Sarkozy's right-wing UMP party. But the Front National, led by Marine Le Pen, hopes to capitalise on her historically high presidential score of 6.4m votes to see her party sit in parliament for the first time since 1986. The last FN MP was elected in 1997 but the result was annulled over funding irregularities. |
| The French system, without proportional representation, does not favour the FN, which has said that winning even one seat would be a victory. | The French system, without proportional representation, does not favour the FN, which has said that winning even one seat would be a victory. |
| One poll has shown Marine Le Pen likely to lose to the leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon in northern Henin-Beaumont. The FN's key targets seats are in Vaucluse, Picardie in the north, Gard in the south where the lawyer Gilbert Collard is standing, and Moselle in north-eastern France. | One poll has shown Marine Le Pen likely to lose to the leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon in northern Henin-Beaumont. The FN's key targets seats are in Vaucluse, Picardie in the north, Gard in the south where the lawyer Gilbert Collard is standing, and Moselle in north-eastern France. |
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