French election latest: National Rally forced to withdraw candidate who was pictured in Nazi hat

Jordan Bardella, president of the French far-right National Rally party, in Paris earlier this week. Photo: Reuters

Diane Jeantet

As it stands on the threshold of power in France, the far-right National Rally (RN) party is facing scrutiny about some of the candidates it hopes will secure it a ruling majority in elections on Sunday, including a woman it has now pulled from the high-stakes race over a photo of her wearing a Nazi officer’s peaked cap.

Other RN candidates whose suitability is being questioned by the party’s critics and opponents include a ­woman said by French media to have once held a town employee hostage at gunpoint, a man who may not be eligible to serve as a lawmaker because he is under guardianship, a candidate in Brittany who tweeted that “gas brought justice to the victims of the Shoah” and others facing questions about their absences on the campaign trail.