Marine Le Pen on Sunday promised on Sunday to keep up the fight against Emmanuel Macron, following her third failed bid for the presidency as she turns her attention to June’s parliamentary vote.
In a defiant speech that conceded defeat but called her result a victory and a source of hope for the French, who she said had sent a signal to Macron, Le Pen said she would continue the fight for France and the French people
Since taking the helm of the party in 2011, Le Pen has sought to rid the National Front – now called the National Rally (RN) – of the anti-Semitic image it acquired under the nearly 40-year leadership of her father, ex-paratrooper Jean-Marie Le Pen.
Her latest attempt to win the presidency saw her tap into anger across the country over the rising cost of living, the decline of many rural communities and general disenchantment with President Macron.
That allowed her to get between 42%-43% of the vote — according to estimates after polling closed on Sunday which is more than doubling her father’s 18% score 20 years ago, when he lost to conservative Jacques Chirac in the 2002 runoff.
Le Pen will likely be challenged for the title of far-right torch-bearer by the duo of pundit-turned- nationalist politician Eric Zemmour and her own niece, Marion Marechal, who defected to Zemmour’s own presidential bid weeks before the election.
Both Le Pen and Zemmour spoke about a possible coalition of anti-Macron, nationalist forces emerging in time for the June parliamentary elections. Neither said who they expected to be in charge of such an alliance.
After a thumping defeat to Macron in 2017 she has softened both her style and substance as she sought to broaden her voter base.
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