Le Pen puts forward ‘ghost’ contender and convicted hostage-taker among candidates in election

A Nazi sympathiser, a convicted hostage-taker, and a “ghost” contender no one has ever seen are among the candidates running to represent Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) in parliament.

With just a few days remaining before the run-off election on Sunday, the hard-Right RN has been doing damage control after embarrassing photos and compromising information emerged of some of its candidates.

Ludivine Daoudi, a candidate for the constituency of Caen, was forced to withdraw from the race after photos of her wearing an officer’s cap with a swastika symbol at a weapons fair surfaced on social media. Ms Daoudi had obtained 20 per cent of the vote in the first round, finishing third in her constituency.

Elodie Babin, the RN candidate in the constituency of Loiret had qualified for the second round, without ever appearing in public since the election was called.

Dubbed the phantom or “ghost candidate” by local media, Ms Babin managed to win 33 per cent of the vote despite her conspicuous absence and refusal to speak with the media. Her husband Aleksandar Nikolic, a recently-elected MEP, told France Bleu that she was suffering from Covid-19.

It is a recurring pattern among RN candidates across the country, many of whom have declined invitations to engage in public debates because they “have no time” or do not want to “waste time”. France Bleu Gascogne, a local radio station, called the phenomenon “unprecedented.”

Thierry Mosca, a 65-year-old who is under state guardianship is also running to represent the constituency of Jura as an RN candidate despite his theoretic ineligibility. An investigation over undeclared work was also dismissed last month owing to his “deficient mental state”, according to AFP.

Annie Bell, the RN candidate for Mayenne, was sentenced to prison time in 1995 after she and her husband held the secretary general of the local town hall hostage for three hours at gunpoint. A shot was fired but there were no injuries.

At the time, the couple was in serious financial debt, reports Ouest-France, the local paper which broke the story. Bell was charged with armed kidnapping and sentenced to 10 months in prison.

An archival news report said: “Under a crushing debt, a couple of entrepreneurs took the secretary general of the town hall hostage for several hours.” In the scuffle, Bell took out the rifle under her coat and fired a shot.