Name: Marine Le Pen

Age: 48

Family: Born to Jean-Marie Le Pen, a former paratrooper and politician from Brittany who formed the Front National in 1972 and PierretteLalanne, in Paris. She has two older sisters. The family survived a 1976 bomb attack aimed at their father.

Partner: She is in a relationship with Louis Aliot, a senior member of the Front National, who is Jewish—the party is often accused of being anti-semitic. Le Pen was previously married to two other party members and she has three children from her first marriage.

Education: She studied law at the University of Paris and also obtaineda masters in criminal law.

Professional experience: Worked as a lawyer for six years, as a public defender.

Party: Le Pen took over the leadership of the Front National in 2011 with a view to running for president the next year. She is seen by some as having de-toxified and modernized the party by agreeing with gay marriage and keeping her distance from her father's alleged anti-semitism. She has since fallen out with her father and forced him out of his position as honorary party chairman in 2015. Le Pen has been elected as a regional and municipal councillor and member of the European Parliament.

Policies: Le Pen wants to transform France's membership of the EU or leave it and leave NATO. She will make it harder for foreign companies to compete for business in France and tax French employers who use foreign workers. She wants to reduce immigration and restrict services to the non-French. Le Pen also says she will reduce the retirement age from 62 to 60, as well as cut taxes and increase spending, while cutting national debt and increasing economic growth.

Le Pen said she admires Vladimir Putin and she visited Moscow during her presidential campaign.

Odds on victory: 12 percent

To contact the reporter: conal@mail.chinadailyuk.com