PARIS — As it stands on the threshold of power in France, the far-right National Rally is facing scrutiny about some of the candidates it hopes will help it secure a ruling majority in legislative elections on Sunday, including a woman it has pulled from the high-stakes race over a photo of her wearing a World War II-era Nazi officer's cap.
Other National Rally 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 who tweeted that ''gas brought justice to the victims of the Shoah'' and others who have been little-seen on the campaign trail.
Revelations by media and citizens risk puncturing the polished image that National Rally leader and three-time presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has sought to craft of her party to shed its historical links to antisemitism, racism and France's painful WWII collaboration with the Nazi occupation.
They also raise questions about the party's readiness to wield power if it secures an absolute majority in Sunday's second-round vote to determine the makeup of the 577-seat National Assembly. An absolute majority would give Le Pen the leverage to force President Emmanuel Macron to accept her 28-year-old protege, Jordan Bardella, as prime minister.
French political analysts say the party has struggled to keep pace with its surge in voter support, including finding and vetting candidates to represent it.
Macron called the surprise legislative election on June 9 after his centrist alliance suffered a punishing defeat at the hands of the National Rally in French voting for the European Parliament. Preparing for the flash campaign proved difficult for all parties.
''They tend to take what they have at hand, even if it means not paying attention,'' said far-right expert Jean-Yves Camus, a researcher with the Institute of International and Strategic Relations. ''There is the top of the basket, but there is also the bottom of the basket, with candidates who are often embarrassing for them.''
In Mayenne, northwestern France, citizens shared an article from regional newspaper Ouest-France reporting in 1995 that National Rally candidate Annie Bell, then using the surname Jaccoud, had taken a mayoral employee hostage for several hours. The newspaper said she was heavily indebted, entered her town hall armed with a rifle and took a secretary hostage. A shot was fired, but nobody was injured, the newspaper reported. Bell has advanced in voting to the decisive second round.
