Refusing to wear a headscarf, Leader of the National Front (FN) party, Marine Le Pen, politely cancelled the meeting with Lebanon's Grand Sunni Muslim Mufti, Sheikh Abdel-Latif Derian, on Tuesday. The French Presidential Candidate remarked-

You can pass on to the Grand Mufti my considerations but I am not putting the veil on…

The meeting scheduled for Tuesday morning, was part of Le Pen’s three-day tour of Lebanon, during which she is known to have met many a top-notch officials to strengthen her credentials before the first round of voting that will take place two months from now.

Lebanese officials who met her at the entrance of the Mufti’s office, tried to hand her a scarf, saying it was tradition to do so. Le Pen politely refused, and tried to reason, but when the officials insisted citing Lebanese customary requirements, she nodded a firm ‘no’.

The cleric’s office is said to have informed Le Pen’s office in advance of the headscarf requirement for the meeting, but expecting the presidential candidate of a nation that bans headscarves for high school students and in public service and expressing “surprise” on her refusal, is quite amusing, to say the least.