Defeated French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen will stand in parliamentary elections in June, her party announced on Thursday, underlining how she intends to remain at the frontline of politics.
The 53-year-old failed in a bid to unseat President Emmanuel Macron last weekend, but achieved a historic score of 41.5 percent.
The head of her Rassemblement National (National Rally, or RN) party, Jordan Bardella, confirmed that Le Pen would stand again for her constituency in northern France for the parliamentary elections, scheduled for 12 and 19 June.
"Marine Le Pen will stand for another term in the Pas-de-Calais," Bardella told reporters.
Le Pen represents the former mining town of Henin-Beaumont and surrounding area, located in northern France, where she was elected in 2017 with around 58 percent of the vote.
She defiantly called her score in last weekend's presidential election a "brilliant victory" and quashed rumours that she would step back after her third successive presidential defeat.
Her party is now hoping to secure a major presence in the National Assembly after the disappointment of 2017 that saw it capture just eight seats.
No alliance with far-right rival Zemmour
Le Pen looks set to spurn a suggestion of combining forces with far-right rival and former TV pundit Eric Zemmour, whom she has clashed with repeatedly in recent months.
"He needs to deflate his head, which is enormous, and stop insulting people," RN vice-president Louis Aliot said of Zemmour on Monday.
A recent poll by the Harris Interactive group suggested RN could win 75-105 seats in the 577-seat lower house without an alliance with Zemmour.
