France`s Le Pen pulls out of election after row with daughter

Paris: Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of France`s National Front, said he was pulling out of regional elections Monday after a row with his daughter who now leads the far-right party.

Le Pen incurred the wrath of his daughter Marine Le Pen by repeating an assertion that the Nazi gas chambers were a "detail of history" and following that up with a defence of France`s wartime leader Petain, who collaborated with the Nazis.

He told the Figaro magazine he would not be standing in the southeast of France for the party even though "I think I was the best candidate for the National Front".