(ANSAmed) - PARIS, JUNE 15 - Half a century after the entry of a far-right MP into France's lower chamber, by the name of Jean-Marie Le Pen, granddaughter of the grand old man of the right, Marion, could revive the family's political traditional association with the Front National, France's far right party.
In a vote that appears to ensure a comfortable majority for the left with the Socialist party verging on 289 seats, and with them the absolute control of the National Assembly, all eyes are on the party that, after its 35 MPs granted by proportional voting in 1986 - this time round could have just three seats in Parliament. Polls say that the Front National could get between nought and three seats. The three candidates in question are the party's leader, Marine Le Pen, controversial lawyer Gilbert Collard and the very young, smiling blond Marion.
Her aunt, who beat sworn enemy of the far left Jean-Luc Mélenchon, forcing him to give up, could not have done better.
Despite her 42.2%, the candidate faces the challenge of Socialist Philippe Kemel, in whose favour Mélenchon withdrew in a bid to win votes from across the left. The challenge facing Marine is a tough one, but not mission impossible, like that of lawyer Collard. Having come from the first round with smaller lead than that of his party leader, he is now wedged in a tight three-cornered race against Ump candidate, Etienne Mourrut, who could drain his support.
But the road ahead of the young Marion Maréchal-Le Pen seems to be free: she faces a three-cornered fight of her own in the South, in Vaucluse, but against an outgoing Ump MP, Jean-Michel Ferrand, and Catherine Arkilovitch, a Socialist candidate who refused to stand down as her leadership called for, in favour of a 'republican front'. Ms Arkilovitch has confirmed herself for the second round, disobeying party bosses. The result can be seen in the most recent polls, that put Marion Le Pen as favourite. A final attempt by the Secretary of the Socialist party, Martine Aubry, to convince her candidate to step down, has failed today. 22-year-old law student Marion, who has a feisty character, is the daughter of Marine's elder sister Yann and of Samuel Maréchal, a former Front Youth leader. Over recent years she has cut her political teeth at local elections in Saint-Cloud, the family power base on the outskirts of Paris, moving on to regional politics. But this is her debut on a national scale: "I have been in the Front National since I was 17: I can remember how they used to spit at me at school and lock me in the toilets" she recalls. Although very keen to distinguish herself from her family and show her independence, her 'parachuting' onto the family's political patch has aided her task, while in the Carpentras constituency, which is part of Marion's the Front beat its national record on April 22 in the first round of the presidential elections, with 31.5%. The road back to the lower house seems like a smooth one.(ANSAmed).
