She came out on top in the 4th constituency of Sarthe, formerly the electoral stronghold of François Fillon.
Marie-Caroline Le Pen, Marine Le Pen’s older sister, has a chance of winning in the second round.
If her first name is unknown to young voters, it is in fact a comeback for the one who got involved in her father’s party at a very young age.
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2024 legislative elections
With 39.26% of the vote, Marie-Caroline Le Pen came out on top in the first round of the legislative elections in the 4th constituency of Sarthe, far ahead of the outgoing MP, l’Insoumise Elise Leboucher (25.94% of the vote). Opponents denounced what they saw as a parachuting in this constituency in the Pays de la Loire region, which was the electoral stronghold of former Prime Minister François Fillon from 1981 to 2012.
If her first name is almost unknown to young voters, Marie-Caroline Le Pen is anything but a newcomer to politics. This electoral result, which does not augur a victory in the second round, already signals a successful return for the woman who was long considered a traitor to the Le Pen clan.
Early entry into politics
Born in 1960 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, the eldest of the three Le Pen sisters, and who entered politics at a very young age alongside her father, it was she who was to become his political heir according to many commentators – a thesis that she herself refutes. Her godfather was Jean-Louis Tixier-Vignancour, a far-right candidate in the 1965 presidential election, of whom Jean-Marie Le Pen had been campaign director. Marie-Caroline Le Pen participated in her father’s campaigns from the 1974 presidential election, when she was only 14 years old.
She won her first mandate in 1992, after several failures, by being elected regional councilor in Hauts-de-Seine, a vote she won again in 1998. In the meantime, she had been a candidate in the legislative elections several times, qualifying for a second round in 1993 and 1995 against Nicolas Sarkozy in Hauts-de-Seine, and in 1997 in Yvelines. In short, Marie-Caroline Le Pen is anything but a novice in politics. She was even the rising star of the FN for a time, while the career of her sister Marine, eight years her junior, was only just beginning.
Political split and family breakdown
The break-up dates back to the following year. In 1999, the National Front experienced a split, with the departure of Bruno Mégret. Marie-Caroline and her second husband, Philippe Olivier, chose the Mégretist movement, an affront that Jean-Marie Le Pen would take years to forgive. A candidate under the label of the National Republican Movement in the 1999 European elections, she finally left Bruno Mégret’s party in 2000, to distance herself from political life for several years.
His return to grace was gradual. The ex-“felon” will be seen alongside her sister Marine during the legislative elections of 2007, then alongside her father during a Dieudonné show at the Zénith in Paris in 2008, during which he had brings the negationist Robert Faurisson on stage. Her political comeback took longer: she rejoined the National Front with her husband in 2016, and participated more actively in her younger sister’s presidential campaign in 2017.
The public reconciliation with Jean-Marie Le Pen, who had refused to speak to her for several years, finally took place in 2018, when he celebrated his 90th birthday. Having become a regional councillor for the Ile-de-France region again in the 2021 elections, on the list led by Jordan Bardella, Marie-Caroline Le Pen failed in the 2022 legislative elections, soundly beaten in the first round in Hauts-de-Seine.
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Her success in the first round in Sarthe could therefore herald the return to the forefront of the far-right party of the woman who is also the mother of Nolwenn Olivier, the partner of Jordan Bardella. Third by a margin (25.88%) the Renaissance candidate Sylvie Casenave-Péré has already announced her withdrawal from the triangular which was announced. She had stated the opposite this Monday morning, before changing her mind after consulting the NFP candidate, who was only ahead of her by 35 votes. “I am therefore withdrawing, having done my best to avoid the possible entry of another member of the Le Pen clan into the National Assembly.”she explained on the social network X.
