Marine Le Pen's niece abandons politics after Front National's heavy defeat
Source: The Guardian
Marine Le Pen's niece abandons politics after Front National's heavy defeat
Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, one of FNs two MPs, will not stand
for re-election, as ex-PM Manuel Valls seeks candidacy with
Macrons En Marche
Jon Henley European affairs correspondent
Tuesday 9 May 2017 18.37 BST
Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, the niece of Front National leader Marine Le Pen and one of the far-right partys only two MPs, is abandoning politics after her aunts heavy defeat to centrist Emmanuel Macron in Sundays French presidential run-off.
In a letter to her local paper to be published in full on Wednesday, the 27-year-old, a hugely popular figure with activists, said she would not be standing for re-election in next months general election, exposing deep divisions in the party.
Le Dauphiné Libéré said that in her two-page letter Maréchal-Le Pen, who is recently divorced and the mother of a young daughter, said her decision was an emotional wrench but justified by personal and political reasons.
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The move is seen as a blow to Le Pen and her chief adviser, Florian Philippot, whose strategy of trying to broaden the partys support beyond its core, ultra socially conservative hard right base is being increasingly questioned.
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Read more:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/09/ex-pm-valls-declares-french-socialists-dead-after-macron-victory