Le Pen remains the devil
Marine Le Pen puts great effort into making her far-right party RN palatable to the masses. However, the second round of the parliamentary elections shows that the French do not buy Le Pen's moderate image. This is also due to the diabolical reputation of her father Jean-Marie, the founder of RN.
The exorcism of Marine Le Pen has failed for now. Her right-populist party Rassemblement National (RN) ranks third after the liberal camp around President Emmanuel Macron and the winners of the Left Alliance. Despite all political divisions: Le Pen's RN is not considered the political center by the majority of the French, as they made clear at the ballot box. Le Pen had given herself so much trouble to make the extremists of her party more presentable. In vain. One reason for this is Le Pen's last name, which still casts dark shadows in France.
This shadow belongs to Le Pen's father Jean-Marie. He founded the RN in 1972. Through his openly displayed racism and antisemitism, Jean-Marie Le Pen kept his party in the fundamental opposition for many years. For many French people, he is simply a Nazi. When his daughter Marine took over the reins in 2011, she wanted to polish the image of the RN. She gradually banned Nazi symbolism and eventually even expelled her own father from the party.
Le Pen even limited her own power for the party's adaptability: when she made Jordan Bardella co-chairman two years ago. Bardella embodies everything the RN lacks. He is young, dynamic, and has Algerian-Italian roots. At first, the plan seemed to work: In the annual ranking of the most popular French people in the "Journal du dimanche," Bardella ranked 30th in 2023 and was the most popular politician in France. Le Pen herself presented herself as a supporter of this immigrant child from humble backgrounds.
However, the majority of the French do not buy Le Pen's moderate image of her party. The last name Le Pen still stands for Jean-Marie, the devil - and his daughter Marine, the little devil.
The right-wing demons are not defeated, however. Le Pen is disappointed with the election result and shows: The RN gained dozens of seats in the National Assembly. The approval in the population is growing. The deep-seated aversion of the majority of the French to the Le Pens led them to make the election a vote against the RN - if only to the benefit of the left-populist party La France insoumise, one of the strongest parties in the Left Alliance.
Not even Macron's arrogance and his hasty decision to dissolve the National Assembly led the majority of the French to consider the RN as a real alternative. Now Le Pen is no longer an alternative to the opposition. The dream of a government under the regime of the right-wing radicals is shattered.
Le Pen's way to her ultimate goal, the Élysée Palace, is drying up after the presidential elections in 2027. The prospect of this goal has become unattainable. However, the presidency is not unreachable.
For the truth, Macron could only prevent an absolute majority for the Right-wing populists by working with the Left-wing alliance in the second round of the elections. However, the parties of this alliance are not only fighting among themselves, but also opponents of Macron's politics. From redistribution issues to defense strategies - the Left and Macron's Liberals have opposing views in many political fields. The only common denominator is their animosity towards Le Pen. Whether this is enough to establish a relatively functioning government is highly questionable. If the project fails, the far-right extremists could soon paint the devil on the wall again. Then Le Pen might be able to attract more voters to cast their cross for the RN in the presidential election.
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Despite her efforts to distance herself from her father's controversial past, Marine Le Pen's association with Jean-Marie Le Pen and the Rassemblement National continues to negatively impact her political image in France. This was evident in the recent elections, where the party ranked behind Emmanuel Macron's liberal camp and the Left Alliance.
Despite the elections result, the right-wing populist RN party, led by Marine Le Pen, has seen an increase in approval and gained numerous seats in the National Assembly. However, the majority of the French still view the Le Pen name as a symbol of the far-right, making it challenging for the party to be considered as a political center.
Even on a weekday like Tuesday, the shadow of Jean-Marie Le Pen's past political views and actions lingers over Marine Le Pen and the RN party, making it difficult for them to gain widespread acceptance in French elections.
