The 27-year-old is one of the best known figures within the National Front and is one of its only two lawmakers.
"You know my story, you know I've been in this political world all my life". Even if you disagree with Le Pen's policy ideas, you can at least respect her role as a battering ram against political correctness.
Anticipating the criticisms, Marine Le Pen already announced "a deep transformation" of the party - a restructuring that has actually been pending for various months - when she acknowledged her defeat on Sunday night.
Marion had previously hinted at dissatisfaction with the internal party politicking and her relationship with both Marine Le Pen and the party's deputy chairman Florian Philippot, who has taken the FN in a more "social" direction to the chagrin of its more conservative wing.
"This raises a lot of questions on how the party will evolve", said Joel Gombin, a specialist of the FN at the Jean Jaures research institute. Voters across France are choosing a new president in an unusually tense and important election that could decide Europe's future, making a stark choice between pro-business progressive Emmanuel Macron and far-right populist Marine Le Pen.
Marion Marechal-Le Pen had been seen as a rising star of the nationalist and anti-immigration National Front party.
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National Front founder Jean-Marie Le Pen was outraged by his granddaughter's decision to bow out. "It risks leaving a number of people orphan, and could trigger some fighting among those would like to take over from her at the head of the ultra-conservative faction of the FN".
It was not immediately clear who might speak for those in the National Front who relied on Marechal-Le Pen to push the party's core values like national identity. While Marine is estranged from him, Marion has closer ties.
Marechal-Le Pen, 27, said in a letter published in a regional newspaper that she won't run for re-election in June to represent her southeast Vaucluse district.
He said: "This will create a huge disappointment".
Nor am I unaware of the party's essentially socialist platform, its unfortunate support for what Galien quite rightly calls "France's untenable and unaffordable welfare state".
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