Marine Le Pen

Marion Anne Perrine "Marine" Le Pen is a member of the French National Assembly and was the president of the National Front (FN), a far-right political party in France.

Le Pen was born August 5, 1968, in Neuilly-sur-Seine. Her father is Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the National Front party, and her niece, Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, was a member of Parliament from 2012 to 2017. Le Pen received a Master of Laws in 1991 and a Master of Advanced Studies (DEA) in criminal law in 1992, both from Panthéon-Assas University. She worked as a lawyer from 1992 to 1998, and was a member of the Bar of Paris until 1998, when she joined the FN's juridical branch, which she led until 2003.

In 1998, Le Pen was elected regional councillor in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais, an office she still holds. She was a member of European Parliament from 2004 to 2017 and a municipal councillor in Hénin-Beaumont from 2008 to 2011. She became a member of the FN Executive Committee in 2000, vice-president of the FN in 2003 and one of the two executive vice-presidents of the FN in 2007. She became leader of the FN in 2011, succeeding her father. In 2012, she placed third in France's presidential election. In the 2017 presidential election, she lost to Emmanuel Macron in the second round of voting. Le Pen is considered to be somewhat more moderate than her father, softening the party's positions on immigration, gay marriage and abortion, and expelling some controversial party members accused of racism or antisemitism.

Sources:

Ray, M. (2011, June 30). “Marine Le Pen” Britannica. Retrieved December 5, 2022. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marine-Le-Pen