Marine Le Pen's bid to defy the odds and win the French presidency risked a setback on Friday when the man named interim head of her National Front party stood down to defend himself against charges that he shares the views of Holocaust deniers. Days ahead of a May 7 run-off pitting the far-right leader against centrist ex-banker Emmanuel Macron, the abrupt exit of Jean-Francois Jalkh raised ghosts of the FN's past and revived a furore sparked by Le Pen's father when he called the Nazi gas chambers a "detail" of history.

The renewed controversy threatens moves by Le Pen, who expelled her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, from the party two years ago, to cleanse the FN's image of xenophobic and anti-semitic associations and make it more palatable to a broader electorate.

Copyright Reuters, 2017