Marine Le Pen steps down as head of NF to woo moderate voters

French far-right presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen has announced that she is temporarily stepping down as her party’s leader.   

The Front National leader revealed she would be quitting her role in her party to focus on the upcoming Presidential election.   

Monday’s move appears to be a way for Le Pen to embrace a wide range of potential voters ahead of the May 7 runoff between herself and centrist Emmanuel Macron who came in first in Sunday’s first round.She announced on France 2: ‘Tonight, I am no longer the president of the National Front. I am the presidential candidate.  

‘I will feel more free, and above partisan considerations.’   

The news comes as she made it to the second round of the vote.  

In the first round of voting centrist Emmanuel Macron won 23.9 per cent and Le Pen received 21.4 per cent.  

Le Pen has said in the past that she is not a candidate of her party, and made that point when she rolled out her platform in February, saying the measures she was espousing were not her party’s, but her own.Much of the antagonism towards the Front Nationale stems from its association with her father, the convicted racist Jean-Marie Le Pen, who is now 88.  

Mr Le Pen has officially been kicked out of the FN by his daughter, but he bizarrely remains honorary president of the party and an MEP.

  
He has also funded his daughter’s campaign by the equivalent of more than 5 million pounds.
France, (Daily Mail, London), 24 April 2017 -