Marine Le Pen
Marine Le Pen (5 August, 1968) is a Euroskeptic French politician and the president of the Front National. She has run twice to be French president, and although unsuccessful both times, she received high percentages of the vote for an FN candidate.
As the nominee in 2012 for President of France the FN won a surprisingly large 20% of the vote in the election on April 22. Marine Le Pen has continued to build her movement ever since. She has similarities to Donald Trump in standing up against the Establishment and putting her country first.
In 2015 as president of the FN, Marine fired her father Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of the FN from any position or leadership. She has led a movement of "de-demonization of the Front National" with renovated positions and new ideas, purging members accused of Petainism, racism, and antisemitism. Marshall Petain headed unoccupied, fascist Vichy France during World War II.
In 2016, she was ranked as second-most influential MEP in the European Parliament by Politico, behind the President of the European Parliament, an ex-Westphalian mayor with low name recognition.
Contents
Family Life
Ms. Le Pen has 3 children and also has 2 sisters, Ms. Marie-Caroline Le Pen and Ms. Yann-Marechal Le Pen.
Administrative positions
Ms. Le Pen was born on 5 August 1968. She graduated with a lawyer's diploma in 1992 and from 1998 to 2004 lead the legal service of the FN. From 2000 onwards she was a member of the political bureau of the FN, and in the 2003 FN congress in Nice, was elected as one of the 8 vice-presidents. In 2007, she was the strategy advisor for the presidential campaign of Mr Le Pen in the 2007 French presidential elections.
In 2003 she became the chairwoman of the Generations Le Pen organization, a youth organization of the FN to promote the thought and works of Jean-Marie Le Pen.
Election Candidate
Earlier elections
She was elected to the European parliament in the 2004 European elections. In 2004 she ran for office in the Ile-De-France in the Regional elections, getting into the second round with 11%. She has also run for the legislative seat representing the city of Henin-Beaumont in the Nord Pas De Calais area in France in the legislative elections of 2002 and 2007. She got into the second round in the 2007 June legislative elections, and Ms. Le Pen gained 42% of the vote, the best result of the FN in the legislative elections of 2007, the only FN candidate to get into the second round. She was a candidate in Henin-Beaumont for the municipal elections in March 2008.
2012 presidential election
In the French Presidential Election 2012 Le Pen received 17.90%.
2017 presidential election
Le Pen ran again in the 2017 presidential election. United States President Donald Trump called her the strongest of the presidential candidates, particularly on borders and security.[1] British politician and radio talk show host Nigel Farage endorsed Le Pen.[2] By contrast, former U.S. President Barack Obama spoke with pro-EU candidate Emmanuel Macron,[3] who stated that terrorism would be "part of our daily lives for the years to come."[4] After the first round, Obama explicitly endorsed Macron's candidacy.[5]
Left-wing opponents of Le Pen stated that even before the election, Le Pen made a large impact, shifting the political debate in France to the right.[6]
Le Pen received second place in the first round of the election on April 23 with over 21% of the vote, meaning she advanced to the second round to face Macron.[7][8][9]
Le Pen chose conservative nationalist Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, the president of the political party France Arise, to be her prime minister if elected.[10][11]
Although Le Pen lost the election with just under 34% of the vote, the election was a victory for her in a sense as it showed that she, her party, and their ideas had entered and were influencing the French mainstream.[12] Soon after the election, it was revealed that even if Le Pen had won, the liberal elite in France would have taken steps to keep her from actually welding power.[13]
Political views
She prioritizes the national interests of France, a rejection of globalism, an exit from the eurozone, a reduction of immigration, and an increase in security, as well as socioeconomic issues and the sovereignty of the French state, on matters of currency, borders, the economy, and the rule of law.
Le Pen has expressed that her party has always been Zionistic and always defended Israel’s right to exist. Still she opposed the settlement enterprise, wants French Jews to give up Israeli citizenship and bashed President Trump for his decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.[14][15]
Violence against Ms. Le Pen
Ms. Le Pen has been the target of violence - although not directed at her alone, the Le Pen family was a target when Mr. Le Pen's home in Paris was bombed in 1976. In the June 2007 legislative elections following the announcement of her 42% showing, some youths decided to attack her car with projectiles. They have been brought to court for this behavior. More recently, she was aggressed on 23 September 2007 by 2 youths with a gun, and they fired a shot. Fortunately, she was evacuated by her bodyguard, and the youths have been identified, and have been deported from the Nord-Pas-De-Calais department.
Censorship against Le Pen's supporters
Facebook suspended 30,000 accounts in France a mere ten days before its national election in 2017, in censorship of supporters of Marine Le Pen.[16][17]
See also
References
- ↑ Tomlinson, Chris (April 21, 2017). Trump Touts Le Pen As ‘Strongest’ Candidate in French Presidential Race. Breitbart News. Retrieved April 21, 2017.
- ↑ Kassam, Raheem (May 3, 2017). Farage Breaks Cover on French Election: ‘I Want to See Le Pen Win’. Breitbart News. Retrieved May 4, 2017.
- ↑ Starr, Penny (April 22, 2017). Obama ‘Gently Waded’ Back into Politics: Spoke on Phone with Left-Leaning Presidential Candidate Macron. Breitbart News. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
- ↑ Montgomery, Jack (April 21, 2017). French Presidential Favourite Macron: Terrorism ‘Part of Our Daily Lives for Years to Come’ After Paris Shooting. Breitbart News. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
- ↑ Obama endorses Macron in French presidential race. Fox News. May 4, 2017. Retrieved May 4, 2017.
- ↑ Hazareesingh, Sudhir (April 22, 2017). Marine Le Pen has already won. Politico. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
- ↑ French presidential election: Le Pen, Macron win first round to advance to runoff. Fox News. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
- ↑ French election first round results 2017 – Macron and Le Pen go through. The Guardian. April 23, 2017. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
- ↑ Berton, Elena (April 23, 2017). French voters reject establishment, send Macron and Le Pen to presidential runoff. The Washington Times. Retrieved April 24, 2017.
- ↑ After His Endorsement, Le Pen Picks ‘Gaullist’ Conservative As Potential Prime Minister. Breitbart News. April 30, 2017. Retrieved April 30, 2017.
- ↑ Blamont, Matthias; Carraud, Simon (29 April 2017). French Presidential Hopeful Le Pen Names Nationalist as Prime Minister. Fox Business. Retrieved April 30, 2017.
- ↑ Mohdin, Aamna (May 8, 2017). Marine Le Pen lost the vote but she won something better. Quartz. Retrieved May 8, 2017.
- ↑ Dettmer, Jamie (May 19, 2017). Media: French Officials Had Secret Plan in Event of Le Pen Win. Voice of America. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
- ↑ Israel, David (February 10, 2017). Despite Dual Citizenship Comment, Le Pen Still Pro-Israel. Jewish Press. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
- ↑ (May 12, 2018). Marine Le Pen bashes Trump for pull-out of Iran deal. Free West Media. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
- ↑ Hoft, Jim (April 14, 2017). Facebook Suspends 30,000 French Accounts 10 days Before Election in Attempt to Censor Le Pen Supporters. The Gateway Pundit. Retrieved April 14, 2017.
- ↑ Facebook Targets 30,000 Fake French Accounts Before Election. Breitbart News. April 14, 2017. Retrieved April 14, 2017.
