The niece of French far-right leader Marine Le Pen said on Saturday she was convinced her ideas would carry her to power in the future, though she did not declare herself officially as a candidate for the next presidential election in France in 2022, reports Reuters.
Marion Maréchal, who dropped “Le Pen” from her family name last year, fueled speculation about her political ambitions when she opened a political academy in Lyon the same year, putting her aunt Marine Le Pen on the defensive.
“Tomorrow, and I am deeply convinced about this, we will be in power,” she said at a conference held in Paris.
The photogenic 29-year-old former lawmaker, granddaughter of National Front founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, is viewed by many as a possible future leader of the far right, maybe as soon as the 2022 presidential election - something her aunt says is premature.
“I don’t believe at all she has ambitions to be a presidential candidate in 2022. At least, that’s what she told me, and I have no reason not to believe her,” Le Pen told reporters earlier this month.
Le Pen’s defeat to Emmanuel Macron in the 2017 presidential election weakened her and exposed deep rifts within the National Front, which Maréchal quit that year and was renamed the National Rally by Marine.