After being rejected by France’s far-right National Front, party founder Jean-Marie Le Pen on Tuesday hit back at its current leader, his daughter, saying it would be “scandalous” if she were to be elected president of France. He said his suspension was a “criminal act,” vowed to “disown” his daughter and ordered her to “give up her name.”
The 86-year-old, who led the party for four decades, was suspended Monday over comments in which he dismissed Nazi gas chambers as a triviality, leading to a bitter feud with his daughter Marine, AFP said in a report.
The younger Le Pen has been actively trying to distance the party from its racist image as she plans her bid for the next French presidential election in 2017. But her father’s refusal to tone back controversial remarks, such as the need to defend the “white world,” has led to a public dispute between the two.
Furious at his suspension, and the threat of losing his title of honorary party president, the octogenarian turned harshly on his daughter, accusing her of “betrayal” and saying he no longer wanted to see her win 2017 elections. “If such moral principles should govern the French state, that would be scandalous,” he said in a radio interview. Asked if he wanted his daughter to win the 2017 election, Le Pen said, “For the moment, no.” He said his daughter was “a bit worse” than the mainstream parties in parliament “because an adversary fights you head on, here he is stabbing you in the back.”
The relationship between Marine and her father has been particularly rocky in recent months. Last month, after he repeated his view that the gas chambers were merely a “detail of the history of the Second World War,” Marine decided enough was enough and openly split with her father, saying he was committing “political suicide.” Under Marine Le Pen, the FN has enjoyed a series of election successes, notably coming first in last year’s European elections.
