Holocaust comments drag on Le Pen’s French presidential bid | Reuters
By Maya Nikolaeva and John Irish | PARIS/CHATELLERAULT, France PARIS/CHATELLERAULT, France Marine Le Pen's bid to defy the odds and win the French presidency risked a setback on Friday when her designated stand-in as National Front party leader stood down to defend himself against charges he shares the views of Holocaust deniers.After an intense day of campaigning ahead of a May 7 run-off vote in which both the far-right's Le Pen and her centrist opponent Emmanuel Macron were carried back to the events of World War Two, surveys continued to show the independent Macron well ahead.But in a couple of potential blows to the centrist favourite, defeated far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon stopped short of endorsing him, despite telling his faithful not to vote for Le Pen.And another loser from the first round, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, endorsed Le Pen, as expected. The abrupt departure of Jean-Francois Jalkh from the National Front (FN) party leadership before he had even taken on the job raised ghosts of the FN's past and revived a furore sparked by Le Pen's father when he called the Nazi gas chambers a "detail" of history.The renewed controversy threatens moves by Le Pen, who expelled her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, from the party two years ago, to cleanse the FN's image of xenophobic and anti-semitic associations and make it more palatable to a broader electorate."There comes a time when the women and men of France must open their eyes to where the National Front comes from," Macron's campaign director Richard Ferrand said.The presidential contest has blown apart traditional party loyalties, presenting voters with a stark choice between a resurgent far right, once a pariah in French politics, and a man whose political movement is less than a year old and who has never held elected office. It sets Macron's enthusiasm for the European Union and call for pro-business reforms to boost growth against Le Pen's desire for France to close its borders to immigrants, unwind EU institutions and restrict imports to protect jobs
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