Le Pen steps down as National Front leader
Far-Right candidate bids to distance herself from party
MARINE Le Pen last night ditched her title as ‘ Front National President’ – claiming that she wanted to be the leader of ‘all the French’.
The far-right presidential hopeful who will stand against centrist Emmanuel Macron in less than two weeks said she was taking time out from her position to rally a message of ‘hope, prosperity and solidarity’.
In an interview with French television station France 2 on prime time news, Miss Le Pen said: ‘I am taking leave from my position as president of the Front National. I am now just the presidential candidate.’ She added: ‘We must go from words to acts. It seemed indispensable for me to put myself on leave from the leadership of the Front National.
‘Tonight, I am no longer the president of the Front National, I am only the candidate. I will feel more free and above party considerations.’
The interview initially appeared to suggest Miss Le Pen was planning to pull out of the election.
But she carefully chose the word ‘conge’, meaning leave rather than ‘ demissionner’, quit, and the move is understood to be a way to make herself more appealing to the general electorate.
Making it clear that she would still put all of her efforts into becoming president, she told the television channel: ‘We can win, and I will do better than that. We are starting this campaign, according to the polls with 60, 40, ten little points, believe me, that’s perfectly doable.’
She said: ‘The president of the republic is the president of all the French, he must bring them all together.’ The interview appeared to make it clear that Miss Le Pen wanted to disassociate herself from the FN name – a party which became embroiled in racism and anti-Semitism rows under the leadership of her father Jean-Marie Le Pen, now 88.
Throughout, she has referred to herself as ‘ Marine’, without using her second name, and rarely refers to the party name, instead using a picture of a blue rose, the party’s symbol.
Through resigning from the FN leadership, French media outlets suggested she was trying to emulate one of France’s most famous presidents, General Charles de Gaulle, who always portrayed himself as above party politics.
The latest message shows Miss Le Pen’s determination to win her place at the Elysee Palace after she secured 21.5 per cent of the vote on Sunday night – the highest her party has ever registered. The French electorate goes to the polls a second time for the run-off vote on May 7.
Miss Le Pen is predicted to be wiped out by former banker and centrist Mr Macron who has won the support of the European Union with his pro-EU policies and pledge to make France’s relationship with the union stronger. Rallying calls across France’s Muslim and Jewish communities were also made for Miss Le Pen to be kept away from the top job.
Dalil Boubakeur, rector of Par- is’s Grand Mosque, urged the country’s nearly five million Muslims to vote to ensure Mr Macron becomes leader.
Mr Boubakeur said May 7 was a decisive date for ‘the destiny of France and its religious minorities’ and called on his followers to ‘ vote massively’ for Mr Macron. He also warned of the ‘ threat embodied by xenophobic ideas, dangerous to our cohesion’.
The president of the European Jewish Congress described Miss Le Pen as ‘ dangerous’ adding that it was ‘extremely regrettable’ that more than one in five French voters had chosen her.