France’s far-right National Front on Friday dropped a candidate for municipal elections due in March after she compared the country’s black justice Minister to a monkey.
The anti-immigration eurosceptic party led by Marine le Pen is desperately seeking a makeover to broaden its voter appeal and dispel its xenophobic image.
The National Front recently won a key by-election and is tipped to be the leading French party in European elections also due next year, according to a new poll.
Anne-Sophie leclere, the FN candidate for Rethel in the northeastern Ardennes region provoked a storm by comparing Justice Minister Christiane Taubira to a monkey on French television.
She has also owned up to a photo-montage showing Taubira, who is from French Guiana, alongside a baby monkey which was posted on her Facebook page.