While Marine Le Pen hailed the 'magnificent' performance of the National Front last night, it is her niece who has become the poster girl for France's far-Right as the party achieved record gains.

Marion Marechal-Le Pen, France’s youngest-ever MP when elected at 22, is on course to lead the southern Provence-Aples-Cote d’Azur region with polls giving her some 40 per cent of the vote.

The 25-year-old has emerged as the rising star of the National Front and is seen by many as the ideological successor to her 87-year-old grandfather, National Front (FN) founder Jean-Marie Le Pen.

With growing popularity and effective TV performances, she is beginning to eclipse her aunt.

The National Front topped the country's regional election vote on Sunday in a breakthrough that shakes up the political landscape in France.

Marion Marechal-Le Pen (pictured) is on course to lead the southern Provence-Aples-Cote d’Azur region with polls giving her some 40 per cent of the vote

The 25-year-old niece of Marine Le Pen (pictured), the leader of France's National Front, has emerged as the rising star of the country's far-Right

Marion Marechal-Le Pen (left) is seen by many as the ideological successor to her 87-year-old grandfather, National Front (FN) founder Jean-Marie Le Pen (right)

The anti-immigration party received at least 29.4 per cent of the votes as the country continues its state of emergency following the Paris terror attacks.

It won six out of 13 regions in the election's first round, which 44 million people were eligible to vote for.

Marechal-Le Pen is much further to the Right than her aunt Marine Le Pen, who has tried to soften the party’s image and even helped expel her father from the party over anti-Semitic Holocaust comments.

The mother-of-one plays a leading role in anti-gay marriage rallies, backing what she calls the ‘traditional family’.

She insists everybody – especially the five million Muslims living in France – should accept the ‘true French identity’ rooted in Christianity.

With growing popularity and effective TV performances, Marion Marechal-Le Pen (pictured) is beginning to eclipse her aunt, Marine Le Pen

The National Front topped the country's regional election vote on Sunday in a breakthrough that shakes up the political landscape in France. She is pictured during a televised debate

She is also outspoken, recently using the word ‘moronic’ while addressing the Socialist prime minister.

‘Marion has dumped her grandfather’s anti-Semitism, but beyond that sounds just like him,’ said one FN source.

She is also adept at invoking the mysticism and legend of the ‘old France’, regularly referring to national heroes such as Joan of Arc.

FN aides freely admit that she has had media training and tries to portray herself as a youthful alternative to ‘boring old men in suits’.

Marechal-Le Pen stood - unsuccessfully - for regional elections in 2010 and famously cracked when a reporter asked her to outline policy areas she wanted to address, unable to provide a single example.

But since becoming an MP, and a mother for the first time, Marion has gone through an astonishing transformation, building a growing following among young radicals and older party supporters disgruntled with her aunt's apparent moderation.

Marion Marechal-Le Pen 'has dumped her grandfather’s anti-Semitism' while FN aides say she has had media training and tries to portray herself as a youthful alternative to ‘boring old men in suits’

The former Sorbonne University student also joined the ranks of anti-gay marriage protesters in 2013 when Marine decided to stay away

She had no qualms in standing up in the lower house, the National Assembly, and accusing a visibly furious Prime Minister Manuel Valls of 'moronic contempt' towards the FN.

The former Sorbonne University student also joined the ranks of anti-gay marriage protesters in 2013 when Marine decided to stay away.

Last month, she also demanded an end to state subsidies for family-planning associations, 'which today are peddling abortion as something that's run-of-the-mill'.

And last week, she raised a storm when, in Toulon, a Mediterranean city with a large number of citizens of Arab descent, she said Muslims could only be French 'if they follow customs and a lifestyle that has been shaped by Greek and Roman influence and 16 centuries of Christianity.'

'We are not a land of Islam,' she said. 'In our country, we don't wear djellaba clothing, we don't wear a veil and we don't impose cathedral-sized mosques.'

For the moment it is Marine who will be hoping to take a step towards becoming president of France in 2017 by winning the Pas de Calais region in the latest elections.

She has promised an earlier retirement age and higher minimum wage, while also pledging to withdraw the country from Europe.

But if – as expected – Marion does well in the Provence–Alpes–Cote d’Azur region, which includes some of the country’s richest areas, then it could be her who is thought of as a possible head of state.

Both women face an uphill battle to clinch the run-off vote after the Socialist Party withdrew candidates in the key regions and called on its supporters to back conservative rivals

Marechal-Le Pen scored above 40 percent in final estimates for the vast Provence-Alpes-Cote-d'Azur region in the south, placing her on course for a landmark win next week

Migrants walk past electoral posters of French National Front's leader Marine Le Pen in Calais on Monday

The first round of regional elections placed the FN on track to break the grip of Socialists and conservatives, cementing the party's grassroots' rise across the country.

In the Nord-Pas-de-Calais, a rustbelt bastion of the Socialists who rule at national level, final estimates gave Le Pen more than 40 percent of the first-round vote.

Victory in the second round on December 13 would give her a springboard for her bid to be president in 2017.

She said today: ‘The people expressed themselves, and with the people, France raises her head.’

But Ms Le Pen conceded that it will still be very hard for a party with only two MPs to translate the vote into power.

‘The vote confirms what previous ballots suggested, but which official commentators did not want to admit – the National movement is without any doubt the first party in France, but meanwhile it is hardly represented in parliament,’ she said.

In a speech to supporters in the early hours today, Ms Le Pen added: ‘It is the only party to defend the authentic French republic the development of our traditions, and the defence of all the French, especially the most vulnerable.’

Marechal-Le Pen, meanwhile, scored above 40 percent in final estimates for the vast Provence-Alpes-Cote-d'Azur region in the south, placing her on course for a landmark win next week.

Both women, however, face an uphill battle to clinch the run-off vote after the Socialist Party withdrew candidates in the key regions and called on its supporters to back conservative rivals.

Marine Le Pen hit out at the tactic, calling it 'collective suicide' that would mark 'the beginning of the disappearance pure and simple of the Socialist Party'.

But Marechal-Le Pen seemed unfazed, taking to Twitter to thank voters. 'Merci!' she wrote, before adding: 'We're ready!'



