Le Pen, 53, is currently a member of the French National Assembly representing Calais, a city on the coast near the UK that is struggling to deal with migrants heading to Britain.
She is best known as a member of the first family of the French far-right. Her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, founded the National Front in 1972, a political party that has long been seen as racist and anti-Semitic. When the younger Le Pen took over her father’s reins as party leader in 2011, she attempted to rebrand the National Front as more mainstream—going as far as expelling her father from the political party he founded after he repeatedly
His claim that the Nazi gas chambers were merely historical details.
However, Le Pen shares her father’s views on immigration. In her failed campaign against Macron, she tried to present herself as
French Donald TrumpClaiming to represent the forgotten French working classes that have suffered in the wake of globalization and technological progress.
But her nationalist economic stance, her views on immigration, Euroscepticism, and attitudes toward Islam in France – she wanted to make it illegal for women to wear the hijab in public – were unpopular with French voters, as she was crushed in her first contest against her. Macron.
While “stopping uncontrolled immigration” and “eliminating Islamic ideologies” remain the top priorities of her programme, Le Pen has sought to broaden her appeal.
In the weeks leading up to the first round of elections, Le Pen campaigned seriously on pocket issues, often beginning interviews and appearing in the media by explaining to voters how she would help them deal with inflation and rising fuel prices, the main issues for the French public.
The strategy appears to have worked. Le Pen polls far better in the first round of 2022 than it did five years ago, and Ifop polls have suggested Macron-Le Pen’s run-off could be close to 53% to 47% in favor of the incumbent.
But some of Le Pen’s other political stances may come back to haunt her in the run-off over the war in Ukraine. She has long been a huge fan of Vladimir Putin, the Russian strongman who became a pariah in the West over the Kremlin’s decision to attack his neighbour. Le Pen visited the Russian strongman
During her 2017 election campaign for PresidentThis time, however, she was forced to cancel a post with a picture of herself and Putin from that trip after the invasion.
her former aversion to NATO –
2017 Le Pen Campaign Platform Including withdrawing France from the alliance – it can also be a burden.
A recent survey from IFOP It shows that 67% of the French do not think that France should leave NATO.
