Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, the niece of Front National leader Marine Le Pen and one of the far-right party’s only two MPs, is abandoning politics after her aunt’s heavy defeat to centrist Emmanuel Macron in Sunday’s French presidential run-off.

In a letter to her local paper to be published in full on Wednesday, the 27-year-old, a hugely popular figure with activists, said she would not be standing for re-election in next month’s general election, exposing deep divisions in the party.

Le Dauphiné Libéré said that in her two-page letter Maréchal-Le Pen, who is recently divorced and the mother of a young daughter, said her decision was “an emotional wrench” but justified by personal and political reasons.

“You know my story; you know I’ve been in this political world all my life. At 27, it is time for me to leave it for a while,” she wrote. “I am not giving up the political fight forever. I cannot remain indifferent to the suffering of my compatriots.”

The move is seen as a blow to Le Pen and her chief adviser, Florian Philippot, whose strategy of trying to broaden the party’s support beyond its core, ultra socially conservative hard right base is being increasingly questioned.

Maréchal-Le Pen, a leading figure in a more traditionalist FN current in the south, is said to be increasingly sceptical of her ability to influence the direction Philippot’s more statist, anti-EU northern wing is taking the party.

Viewed by some in the party as a future leader, she is far more socially conservative than her aunt and has clashed with her over the party’s strategy of pulling France out of the euro and holding a referendum on France’s EU membership.

Maréchal-Le Pen is also closer to the party’s founder, her grandfather and Marine Le Pen’s father Jean-Marie Le Pen. He said on Tuesday he was deeply disappointed with his granddaughter’s decision.

“This will create a huge disappointment ... Marion represented a hope for the future for many FN voters and activists,” Le Pen senior told Le Figaro, adding that if there was no good explanation, the move amounted to “a desertion”.

Le Pen’s heavier-than-expected defeat and plans to “profoundly transform” and possible rename the party have raised questions about its policy platform and the effectiveness of her campaign, widely seen as weak in its closing stages.

She may decide not run for parliament herself in Hénin-Beaumont, the northern stronghold where she narrowly lost in 2012 legislative elections, according to Gilbert Collard, the party’s second MP.

“It’s under discussion. She has the choice between this political battle or leading the new Front National in the legislative elections,” Collard said. “It’s a tactical choice and not an existential one, which we will debate.”

Maréchal-Le Pen’s announcement came after France’s former Socialist prime minister Manuel Valls said he wants to run for parliament as part of Macron’s new political movement, declaring the country’s traditional centre-left party “dead”.



He said the “history and values” of the Socialist party still lived but the party was “dead. It’s behind us. I will be a candidate for the presidential majority.”

Macron was assembling his government on Tuesday ahead of the parliamentary polls next month in which he needs to secure a parliamentary majority for his political startup, renamed La République en Marche (The Republic on the Move).

Without a majority he risks being unable to implement his plans to revive France’s economy by cutting state spending, boosting investment and reforming the tax, labour and pensions systems.

En Marche responded cautiously to Valls’ offer. Its spokesman, Christophe Castaner, said Valls – who failed to win the Socialist party’s presidential nomination – “had a good chance” of being accepted but would have to submit an official application, which he had not yet done.

Opinion polls suggest Macron’s 577 parliamentary candidates – half of whom are new to politics, with the remainder En Marche members and defectors from the Socialists and Les Republicains – could emerge as the largest parliamentary group after the two-round election on 11 and 18 June.

Macron, a former investment banker who will take over from the outgoing Socialist president François Hollande on Sunday, has not yet named his prime minister.

The decision is a delicate one, with a humiliated Socialist party in crisis and a resilient centre right intent on rebounding from the narrow defeat of its presidential candidate, François Fillon, with a strong performance in the parliamentary poll.

The Socialist presidential candidate, Benoît Hamon, was knocked out in the first round after scoring just 6.4% of the vote. The party is now divided over whether to pursue his more radical line or return to the more market-friendly policies of Hollande and Valls.

Valls’ offer of support could cut both ways for Macron. As a high-profile, moderate Socialist defection it is potentially valuable, but it could also prove damaging if opponents portray it as evidence that he is merely a successor to the deeply unpopular Hollande.

Pierre Moscovici, an EU commissioner and senior Socialist figure, said the party should think twice before opposing Macron. “He’s pro-European, he has progressive ideas and he hasn’t unveiled all of his plans nor named his government,” Moscovici said.

But the party’s first secretary, Jean-Christophe Cambadélis, said it would be “impossible” to remain a Socialist party member and run for office in Macron’s movement. “If some want to leave and go apart, they can do so and let us work,” he said.

