France Elections: Le Pen 'steps Aside' As Party Leader

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-39696861

[cassa333]

I read that just now and can't figure out what it means.

Does it mean she is running for president as an independent or stepping aside from the presidential race to allow the other one to walk in?

[douglas9401]

Hope you're wearing your Tena Man, Mikey. :)

[Prudie]

Probably a good tactical move (from what little I understand)

[ichkeria]

All through the campaign she has not used the name Le Pen in her literature and slogans. Now she's ditched her party.
By Friday she'll be in a burqa :-)

[-Talbot-]

All through the campaign she has not used the name Le Pen in her literature and slogans.


?
really?

[-Talbot-]

http://www.theweeklings.com/wp-content/uploads/le-pen-183x300.jpg

https://i.dawn.com/large/2016/11/582cc0f5e18c8.jpg

http://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/scalefit_720_noupscale/58f7a8e714000049001b523f.jpeg

[Peter Pedant]

yes er carried en France as they say over there

http://www.lemonde.fr/election-presidentielle-2017/article/2017/04/24/marine-le-pen-se-met-en-conge-de-la-presidence-du-front-national_5116791_4854003.html

(s/o on AB is gonna scream their tots off as I give a French reference for a French event - and not the Beeb even tho everyone knows teh Beeb knows Much Better

she as poot on hold the presidency of the National Front because she wished to be president for averyone
very creditable

I think it is a put-on

[david small]

Have a lie down Peter.

[anneasquith]

Temporary, I wonder how delighted the French national front party feel.

[Khandro]

'By distancing herself from the party founded by her father in 1972, Ms Le Pen hoped to reach out to potential voters who backed the Eurosceptic and protectionist far-Left candidate, Jean-Luc Mélénchon, and François Fillon, the defeated conservative, some of whose harder-line supporters could vote FN.'
Hold on to your hats, - the show ain't over 'til the fat lady sings.

[mikey4444]

I would like to thank her for distancing herself from her awful father and the equally awful Party.

I really would !

[youngmafbog]

She has been moving the Party away from what her father ran for some time. Perhaps you should research how it is now Mickey.

She is doing this because of the perception of people like you who look in the past not the present when looking for any tool to bash her.

[ichkeria]

She obviously doesn't think she's done a very good job though :-)

[anneasquith]

Too little too late ?

[ichkeria]

I'm reminded of the Father Ted episode where he tries to convince the Chinese community on Craggy Island that he's 'not a racist'. Except that Ted was always innocent.
Expect Jean Marie to rise out of a box on the eve of the election proclaiming 'The holocaust was a mere detail of history!' again :-)

[Khandro]

The fact that the whole French establishment - international capital, the banking and the stock markets - all rallied on the outcome of the election yesterday in France. That demonstrates that Macron is the establishment candidate, and he will deliver a very weak France, which is exactly what Brussels and Berlin want.

[Garaman]

Funny how people get different things from the same information. I see the stock markets rallying because investors are reassured that the majority of French voters don’t want to leave the EU and do want to keep the euro, which means less turmoil. Democracy in action, unless it isn’t what you wanted of course.

[ichkeria]

Le Pen has actually lost support from some older voters with her "cancel the euro" stuff as it would likely cripple their savings. I think her idea at one point was to bring back the franc and also have the euro.
She is or was under investigation for inappropriate use of EU funding (funny how that seems to be a pattern with anti-EU parties!)

[cassa333]

Ichkeria, perhaps that's because they only investigate those that don't toe the line?

I am convinced that all politicians, regardless of party have, are or will be scoffing at the table of tax payer funded largesse. It's just a matter of degrees.

[Khandro]

ichi; "She [Marine] denied the allegations of fraud and said she would not “submit to persecution” by repaying the money.
In a statement to Reuters news agency, Le Pen described the demand as “a unilateral decision taken by political opponents ... without proof and without waiting for a judgment from the court action I have started”. "