Le Pen looks ahead to parliamentary polls

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen lost her bid to become France's first female head of state but she is unbowed, making plans for a major makeover of her party and her next electoral battle: June's parliamentary elections.

Le Pen's loss to centrist Emmanuel Macron still gave her a historic number of votes, reflecting the changing image of her once-pariah National Front party from fringe force to a political heavyweight.

Always a fighter defying the odds, the ambitious Le Pen set a new challenge for herself: "a profound reformation of our movement to constitute a new political force."

The National Front's interim president, named while Le Pen campaigned for Sunday's runoff, said the changes include giving the party a new name.

"It's opening the doors of the movement to other personalities," Steeve Briois told The Associated Press, "then give it a new name to start on a new basis."

Changing the name was discussed at the height of Le Pen's efforts to scrub the party image and remove traces of racism and anti-Semitism that scared away potential backers. But party stalwarts saw the change as too radical.

A new name would help Le Pen distance herself from the old guard - including her father, party founder Jean-Marie, who was kicked out under his daughter's image revamping.

The party's new look won't come about before the parliamentary elections on June 11 and 18.

"We need new tools," campaign director David Rachline said yesterday on France Info radio.