Editing National Rally (section)

==== Consolidation (1988–1997) ====
Le Pen's campaign for the presidential election unofficially began in the months following the 1986 election.{{sfn|Shields|2007|p=219}} To promote his statesmanship credentials, he made trips to South East Asia, the United States, and Africa.{{sfn|Shields|2007|p=219}} The management of the formal campaign, launched in April 1987, was entrusted to [[Bruno Mégret]], one of the new ''notables''.{{sfn|Shields|2007|p=219}} With his entourage, Le Pen traversed France for the entire period and, helped by Mégret, employed an American-style campaign.{{sfn|DeClair|1999|p=68}} Le Pen's presidential campaign was highly successful; no candidates came close to rival his ability to excite audiences at rallies and boost ratings at television appearances.{{sfn|Shields|2007|p=219}} Using a [[Populism|populist]] tone, he presented himself as the representative of the people against the "gang of four" (RPR, UDF, PS, [[Communist Party of France|Communist Party]]), while the central theme of his campaign was "national preference".{{sfn|Shields|2007|p=219}} In the [[1988 French presidential election|1988 presidential election]], Le Pen won an unprecedented 14.4% of the vote,{{sfn|Shields|2007|p=224}} and double the votes of 1984.{{sfn|DeClair|1999|p=70}}

In the snap [[1988 French legislative election|1988 legislative elections]], the FN was hurt by the return two-ballot majority voting, by the limited campaign period, and by the departure of many ''notables''.{{sfn|DeClair|1999|p=80}}{{sfn|Shields|2007|p=227}} In the election, the party retained its 9.8% support from the previous legislative election, but was reduced to a single seat in the National Assembly.{{sfn|Shields|2007|p=227}} Following some [[anti-Semitism|anti-Semitic]] comments made by Le Pen and the FN newspaper ''National Hebdo'' in the late 1980s, some valuable FN politicians left the party.{{sfn|Shields|2007|pp=223 f}}{{sfn|DeClair|1999|pp=89}} Soon, other quarrels left the party without its remaining member of the National Assembly.{{sfn|DeClair|1999|p=90}} In November 1988, general secretary Jean-Pierre Stirbois, who, together with his wife Marie-France, had been instrumental in the FN's early electoral successes, died in a car accident, leaving Bruno Mégret as the unrivalled, de facto FN deputy leader.{{sfn|Shields|2007|p=219}}{{sfn|DeClair|1999|p=90}} The party only got 5% in the [[1988 French cantonal elections|1988 cantonal elections]], while the RPR announced it would reject any alliance with the FN, a rejections that now included the local level.{{sfn|Shields|2007|p=233}}

In the [[1989 European Parliament election in France|1989 European elections]], the FN held on to its ten seats, winning 11.7% of the vote.{{sfn|Shields|2007|p=234}}

In the wake of FN's electoral success, the immigration debate, growing concerns over Islamic fundamentalism, and [[The Satanic Verses controversy|the ''fatwa'']] against [[Salman Rushdie]] by [[Ruhollah Khomeini|Ayatollah Khomeini]], the 1989 ''[[France debate over veils|affaire du foulard]]'' was the first major test of the relations between the values of the French Republic and [[Islam]].{{sfn|Shields|2007|pp=235–237}} Following that success, surveys found that French public opinion was largely negative towards Islam.{{sfn|Shields|2007|p=237}} In a 1989 legislative by-election in Dreux, FN candidate Marie-France Stirbois, campaigning mostly on an anti-[[Islamism]] platform, returned a symbolic FN presence to the National Assembly.{{sfn|Shields|2007|pp=236 f}} By the early 1990s, some mainstream politicians began also employing anti-immigration rhetoric.{{sfn|DeClair|1999|p=93}} In the first round of the [[1993 French legislative election|1993 legislative elections]], the FN soared to 12.7% of the overall vote, but did not win a single seat due to the nature of the electoral system.{{refn|group=nb|if the election had used proportional representation, it would have won 64 seats.}}{{sfn|Shields|2007|pp=247–249}}{{sfn|DeClair|1999|pp=94 f}} In the [[1995 French presidential election|1995 presidential election]], votes for Le Pen rose to 15% of the total.{{sfn|Shields|2007|p=252}}

The FN won an [[absolute majority]] (and thus the mayorship) in three cities in the [[1995 French municipal elections|1995 municipal elections]]: [[Toulon]], [[Marignane]], and [[Orange, Vaucluse|Orange]].{{refn|group=nb|It had won a mayorship only once before, in the small town of [[Saint-Gilles-du-Gard]] in 1989.{{sfn|Shields|2007|p=261}}}}{{sfn|Shields|2007|pp=260 f}}  Le Pen then declared that his party would implement its "national preference" policy, with the risk of provoking the central government and being at odds with the laws of the Republic.{{sfn|Shields|2007|p=261}} The FN's elected representatives pursued interventionist policies with regards to the new cultural complexion of their towns by directly influencing artistic events, cinema schedules, and library holdings, as well as cutting or halting subsidies for multicultural associations.{{sfn|Shields|2007|pp=262 f}} The party won [[Vitrolles, Bouches-du-Rhône|Vitrolles]], its fourth town, in a 1997 by-election, where similar policies were subsequently pursued.{{sfn|Shields|2007|p=263}} Vitrolles' new mayor {{ill|Catherine Mégret|fr}}, who ran in place of her husband Bruno,{{sfn|DeClair|1999|p=101}} went further in one significant measure, introducing a special 5,000-[[French franc|franc]] allowance for babies born to at least one parent of French (or EU) nationality.{{sfn|Shields|2007|p=263}} The measure was ruled illegal by a court, which sentenced her to a suspended prison sentence, a fine, and a two-year ban from office.{{sfn|Shields|2007|p=263}}