With a discourse focused on purchasing power and a less radical image, Marine Le Pen is trying to fulfill the decades-old dream of the far right: to reach the presidency of France with an essentially unchanged program.

“I’ve come to seek the power of the people. Yes, I will win,” the candidate of the National Regrouping (RN) party, which lost the second round in 2017, said at a meeting with voters in Normandy (northwest) on Monday. liberal Emmanuel Macron received 33.9% of the vote against 66.1%.

Five years later, polls show 10 points more in voting intentions, which wasn’t enough to beat Macron. But his breakthrough shows the success of his campaign in demonstrating his ability to reduce and manage fears about his party.

If this 53-year-old lawyer got the keys to the Élysée Palace, he would successfully crown the party’s strategy of erasing its extremist image through education since it took control of the National Front (FN), which he founded in 2011. father.

Jean-Marie Le Pen had success in the runoff in 2002, winning almost 18% of the vote for conservative Jacques Chirac, but with an image of a racist, anti-Semitic and nostalgic party for colonial Algeria. .

Marine Le Pen has pushed prominent members of these industries, including his own father, while others have closed their ranks with rival Éric Zemmour, who is trying to resurrect traditional FN, according to analysts.

‘Beautiful’

“The mere presence of Éric Zemmour, seen as more radical than he in both content and form, mechanically repositioned Le Pen’s image,” said Mathieu Gallard, an analyst at Ipsos France.

The RN candidate has also struggled to temper his image and get past the heated debate with Macron in 2017, which was criticized for his “aggression” and “lack of preparation”.

On the rise of the rival candidate in the third presidential election, Minister of Agriculture Julien Denormandie analyzed Le Pen “playing well and taking advantage of it. We are also used to extremes”.

Born on August 5, 1968 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, a cozy town west of Paris, the politician visits fairs, climbs tractors and gives candid interviews to distinguish himself from Macron, who is seen as “arrogant”.

According to a report by the Jean-Jaurès Foundation, he often presents himself in interviews as a farmer, cat breeder, in an attempt to normalize his image and undermine the parties’ “republican front” against his run-off candidacy.

According to an Ipsos/Sopra Steria poll, 57% of French say Le Pen is a cause for concern, while 49% say the same about Macron. But 50%, twice as much as their centrist rival, believe the population is well-informed about their problems.

‘Fundamentals of NF’

In his campaign, Le Pen focuses on criticism of rising energy prices in the context of fears about loss of purchasing power and lowering the retirement age to 60 instead of 65 as Macron had suggested. some situations.”

“But its program has changed little with regard to the fundamentals of the National Front, such as immigration and national identity,” Cécile Alduy, a professor at Stanford University (USA), told AFP recently.

His plans include reducing immigration and fighting “Islamic ideology”: allocating welfare benefits to the French, ending family reunification and banning the veil in public spaces, among other proposals.

“But he chose a different vocabulary to justify it: in the name of secularism and republican values ​​and even feminism,” said Alduy, an expert on far-right rhetoric.

Wearing light clothes and with a smile on his face, Le Pen chose to present himself as a candidate for “civil peace” and “national unity”, and wants to “make people forget how rigorous his schedule is”, according to Jean. -Jaures Foundation.

Known for her strong personality, Marine Le Pen describes herself as a “modern woman” and single. These three children are divorced twice, separated from their last wife, and live with a childhood friend she took with her.

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