Marine Le Pen expelled her own father from the party he founded
Jean-Marie Le Pen created the National Front in 1972. His youngest daughter took it over in 2011, set out to 'de-demonise' it, renamed it the National Rally, and in 2015 threw him out after fresh inflammatory remarks. She has since reached the second round of France's presidential election twice.
Born in Neuilly-sur-Seine on 5 August 1968, Marine Le Pen was eight when a bomb intended for her father blew a hole in the family's apartment building as they slept; nobody inside was hurt. Her mother left when she was 16, a loss she later described as crushing. She studied law at Panthéon-Assas, then practised in Paris from 1992 to 1998, often as a public defender in fast-track criminal hearings, before joining the party's legal department.
She had joined the National Front at 18 in 1986 and climbed steadily: regional councillor from 1998, party vice-president in 2003, manager of her father's 2006 presidential campaign, and a member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2017. In January 2011 party members chose her as leader with 67.65 percent of the vote over Bruno Gollnisch. During that campaign a speech likening Muslim street prayers to an occupation drew accusations of racism; a Lyon court acquitted her of inciting hatred in 2015.
As leader she dropped references to the Second World War and colonial wars, expelled some members accused of racism or antisemitism, and abandoned the party's opposition to same-sex partnerships and its support for the death penalty, while keeping a hard line on immigration, economic nationalism and opposition to globalisation. Critics called the result a softer face on familiar politics, and some old allies complained it had become too mainstream. She rejects the far-right label.
Electorally she finished third in 2012 with 17.9 percent, then reached the 2017 run-off against Emmanuel Macron, winning about 33.9 percent. She has represented a Pas-de-Calais constituency in the National Assembly since 2017. In 2025 she and other party figures were convicted of misusing European Parliament funds; an appeal in 2026 upheld her guilt but reduced or suspended the penalties, leaving her eligible for the 2027 presidential race.
Source: Marine Le Pen
