Marine Le Pen’s niece starts own party: What it means for French far-right

Marion Marechal, 34, has launched Identite-Libertes, through which she hopes to strengthen France’s ‘national camp’.

The niece of French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has founded her own political party aimed at becoming a new force in the country’s growing right-wing bloc.

In an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro on Monday, Marion Marechal, 34, announced the launch of Identite-Libertes (Identity-Freedoms) – or IDL – of which she is president.

“I decided to launch a political movement to contribute to the victory of the national camp,” she told the French newspaper, referring to the right-wing alliance of parties which came close to seizing a majority in the recent French elections after coming first among the main three political alliances in the first round of voting on June 30.

The central and leftist blocs joined forces and selectively withdrew candidates in several areas to ensure the right wing could not win a majority in the second round, resulting in a hamstrung National Assembly with each political alliance taking about a third of the vote.

National Rally, the far-right party originally called National Front and founded by Marechal’s grandfather, Jean-Marie Le Pen, itself bagged more than 31 percent of the vote in the National Assembly elections at the end of June, becoming France’s largest party by vote share.