Le Pen seeks a dynasty

last updated 8 January 2015

Nice

French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen has appointed his daughter Marine as one of five vice presidents of his National Front party, in a bid to attract younger voters and women. The extremist shocked France last year when he won 20 percent of the vote in the first round of the presidential election—more than the prime minister got—on an anti-immigration platform. Le Pen then lost badly to President Jacques Chirac in the runoff, as millions of people rallied against what they called fascism. The 75-year-old’s not done yet, though. At a National Front caucus in Nice this week, he vowed to lead the party for 20 more years and then hand it off to Marine, now 34. Le Monde called the move “the ‘not without my daughter’ maneuver.”