(Bloomberg) -- Marine Le Pen, still reeling after last year's French presidential defeat, is pushing to rebrand the National Front and seek alliances to revive her far-right, anti-establishment party.
“If we are changing the National Front today, then we also need to change the name,” Le Pen said Sunday at a press conference in Alencon, north-western France, according to Agence France-Presse. An internal poll shows a majority within the party favor a name change and, if the early feedback is confirmed, militants will vote for a new name at a March 11 congress, she said.
“We can't think in terms of nostalgia,” Le Pen said. “A political party is a tool that must serve to win power.” She praised recent electoral victories by far-right parties in Poland, Hungary and Austria, according to AFP.
Le Pen made it to the second round of France's presidential elections in May, where she lost to Emmanuel Macron by 66 percent to 34 percent. In June, the party won just eight of 577 seats in the National Assembly. Le Pen, formerly a European lawmaker, was elected for the first time at a national post.
To contact the reporter on this story: Fabio Benedetti-Valentini in Paris at fabiobv@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net, Paul Jarvis, Steve Geimann
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