Family Scandal Continues: Jean Le Pen Wants to Create New Political Group

Former leader of France's far-right National Front party Jean-Marie Le Pen said on Monday he wants to create his own political "formation," a week after being suspended from the party he founded and led for nearly 40 years.

Jean-Marie Le Pen plans to create a formation that will compete the National Front party.

"I will not create another party. I will create a formation that will rival the FN," he told Radio Courtoisie.

However, Le Pen added that he wished "to restore the line" taken since 2011 by his daughter Marine.

"I think we should restore true democracy," said Le Pen, who risks losing his title of honorary president of the FN.

The party's highest body decided on Monday to convene an extraordinary general meeting to discuss his suspension from the post.

Marine Le Pen, struggling to repair the party after the FN's anti-Semitic and racist moves, is seeking to punish her father, author of a series of provocations on the Shoah, or the "white world."

She took over party leadership in 2011, and things started to change straight away after she softened the party's line on xenophobia and the FN became more popular. She was the new star on the rise.

In two polls in 2013, Marine Le Pen polled ahead of President François Hollande. By 2014, the party had gained 24.86% of the vote in the European Elections and 24 of France's 74 seats.