FRANCE’S FAR-RIGHT Front National (FN) will choose a new leader this weekend to replace Jean-Marie Le Pen, its founder and figurehead for the past 40 years.
The favourite to win the ballot of party members is Marine Le Pen (42), the departing leader’s daughter and one of the FN’s most high-profile figures.
She faces a challenge from party vice-president Bruno Gollnisch, who has attracted support among social conservatives.
Ms Le Pen has said her beliefs on core FN concerns such as immigration and crime are identical to her father’s. She has called for immigration to be dramatically reduced, France’s withdrawal from the euro zone and the reintroduction of the death penalty for serious crimes. She stirred controversy recently by comparing Muslims praying on the streets of French cities to the Nazi occupation.
Her campaign for the leadership has stressed Ms Le Pen’s desire to appeal beyond the party’s traditional support base, however. A social liberal who supports abortion rights and defends France’s secularist model, she has emerged in opinion polls as a less polarising figure than her father.
In a CSA poll published yesterday, 20 per cent of the French public said they “could” vote for Ms Le Pen if she were to run in the first round of next year’s presidential election. Some 13 per cent said they would consider voting for her father, and just 7 per cent for Mr Gollnisch.
Asked to describe her character and politics, three-quarters (74 per cent) of respondents said she was of the extreme right, while she was also judged courageous (71 per cent), racist (59 per cent) and modern (47 per cent). Significant minorities deemed her to be close to people’s preoccupations (42 per cent) and attached to the French social model (39 per cent).
A separate survey in December suggested Ms Le Pen was viewed positively by 27 per cent of people – considerably higher than her father’s approval ratings. Some figures in President Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP party have indicated they would be prepared to consider a right-wing alliance with the FN, although Mr Sarkozy had ruled out the possibility.
Speaking on the eve of his retirement as leader, Mr Le Pen (82) said he hoped his daughter would succeed him and take the party to a new level. “I wasn’t able to put into practice the programme I saw saving France but there’s a second stage and I hope it’s Marine Le Pen,” he said.