Daughter succeeds dad at French far-right party

Marine Le Pen wants to broaden the appeal of far-right National Front party.

Tours: France`s far-right National Front party elected the daughter of its founder, Jean-Marie Le Pen, as its new leader on Sunday, who says she wants to broaden the appeal of a party known best for its anti-immigration, anti-Islam platform.

Le Pen, who has been convicted for minimising the Holocaust, left the leadership of the party he created 38 years ago by dropping an anti-Semitic reference about a journalist at a weekend party gathering.

Marine Le Pen, 42, won slightly more than two-thirds of the vote in an election at a National Front convention in the central city of Tours — easily beating the other candidate, longtime party No 2 Bruno Gollnisch.

Her victory, which had been expected, means she is likely to represent the party in the 2012 presidential race. Her father already said he wouldn`t run after five losing bids — and a shockingly strong one nine years ago, when he qualified for the runoff against incumbent Jacques Chirac.

With characteristic pique, the 82-year-old party founder took aim on Sunday at a reporter from France-24 television who said that he had been roughed up by security staff at the convention the night before.

"The person in question believed it was necessary to say that it was because he was Jewish that he was thrown out. That couldn`t be seen either on his (press) card or on his nose — if I dare say it," Le Pen told reporters.

Le Pen has been repeatedly fined and convicted over his long political career, such as for inciting racial hatred by saying France might be overrun by Muslims and calling the World War II gas chambers "a detail" of history.

He hit his political peak by defeating the Socialist prime minister and others to reach the 2002 Presidential Election runoff. The National Front leader lost to Chirac, as mainstream parties of left and right united to defeat Le Pen.

Though he retired from the party with a fiery and unapologetic speech on Saturday night, Le Pen remains the National Front`s honorary president.

A divorced mother of three, Marine Le Pen is widely seen as the kinder, gentler face of a party known for its extreme stances. In an interview with a news agency on Wednesday, she said she wanted the party to widen its focus — and reputation — to beyond issues of immigration and security.

"I refuse to accept as inevitable the fact that we have been demonised ... that we have to continue to be insulted, consigned to the edge of political life and excluded from the democratic field," she said.

In her first address as party president on Sunday, Marine Le Pen touched on her father`s favourite themes, but without ever using the words "immigrants" or "Islam”.

"Our country is at risk of dismemberment. ... The values of our civilisation, our traditions, our way of life and our customs are being contested in many quarters — in schools, in the public sphere and in entire neighbourhoods," she said, in a none-so-veiled swipe at immigrant communities here.

Marine Le Pen`s attempts to widen the base have sowed discord within the party, which has had financial troubles after a poor showing in the 2007 presidential race. Some members want the party to keep its outsider status.

"Marine has charm, charisma, she looks great on TV — but it`s not enough," said party member Anne-Marie Lacalmette, saying she didn`t believe Marine Le Pen was up to the job. "I am sad. I am very sad."

Others thought the daughter`s tack would widen the party`s appeal.

Meanwhile in Marseille, a Mediterranean port city that is home to many French citizens with family heritage in North Africa, some said they regretted the handover from father to daughter.

Bureau Report

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