Marine Le Pen claims she is trying to make the far-right Front National more 'normal', a strategy that has perhaps contributed to her party surging ahead in opinion polls. One survey suggests that Le Pen would come top if the first round of voting in a presidential election were held today, whoever her main opponent. But behind the attempts to 'de-demonize' the FN lurks another reality – that of a party that still refuses to abide by democratic rules. Last weekend Mediapart's reporter was ejected from the party's youth conference, and this was not the first time this has occurred. Nor is it just Mediapart which is targeted – other media outlets and also academics have found themselves ostracised by a party which seems to fear the freedom of the press.
