Le Pen, Marine (Marion Anne Perrine Le Pen) [key], 1968–, French politician, daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen. A lawyer, she was in private practice (1992–98) before becoming head of legal affairs (1998–2003) and deputy chairwoman (2003–11) of the National Front (FN), the right-wing party led by her father. She became party leader in 2011. Though she ran her father's 2007 presidential campaign, subsequently she has worked to reduce the party's radical image and focus on economic issues while continuing to support an anti-immigration platform. She also has clashed with her father over statements he has made, and in 2015 oversaw his expulsion from the FN. She has served as a regional councilor for Hauts-de-France (2016–), Nord-Pas-de-Calais (1998–2004, 2010–16) and Île-de-France (2004–9), and in the European Parliament (EP; 2004–17) and the French National Assembly (2017–). In 2012 she ran unsuccessfully for French presidency, but in 2014 she led the FN to a win in the French EP elections. The FN received more than a quarter of the vote in the 2015 regional elections but did not win in any region. In 2017 she was again a presidential candidate, this time losing to Emmanuel Macron after a runoff in which she received a third of the vote. That year she was charged with having misused European Union funds that were intended to pay FN EP assistants, and the EU subsequently sought to recover the money. The party was renamed the National Rally (RN) in 2018.
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