French election: Defeated Marine Le Pen returns to role as leader of far-right Front National

(Reuters)

Marine Le Pen, the far right politician who was defeated by centrist Emmanuel Macron in her bid for the French presidency, has resumed her job as head of the National Front (FN), a senior official in the party said.

Steeve Briois, who took Le Pen's place as FN leader when she temporarily stepped down to face Macron in the decisive round of the election on May 7, welcomed her back to the helm of the nationalist, anti-immigrant party in a Twitter message.

The party was due on Monday to present its list of candidates for parliamentary elections that take place in two rounds on June 11 and 18.

Le Pen secured 34 percent of the votes in the presidential runoff vote versus 66 percent for the pro-EU Macron.

Reuters