Marine Le Pen (born 5 August 1968) is a French politician and lawyer serving as President of the National Rally party (formerly National Front) since 2011, with a brief interruption in 2017. She has been a member of the National Assembly for Pas-de-Calais's 11th constituency since 18 June 2017. Le Pen joined the National Front in 1986 and has held various political positions, including Regional Councillor since 1998, Member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2017, and municipal councillor in Hénin-Beaumont from 2008 to 2011. She won the party leadership in 2011 with 67.65% of the vote, succeeding her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen.
Le Pen placed third in the 2012 presidential election with 17.90% of the vote and ran again in 2017, finishing second in the first round with 21.30% before losing to Emmanuel Macron in the second round. She has worked to soften the party's image by expelling controversial members and moderating some positions, such as supporting civil unions for same-sex couples, accepting abortion rights, and removing the death penalty from the platform. She opposes the United States and NATO and has pledged to remove France from their influence. Le Pen was named among the most influential people by Time magazine in 2011 and 2015 and was ranked the second-most influential MEP in 2016 by Politico.
France
