French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen officially announced his candidacy to head a key region in the south of France. Le Pen, who made the announcement Sept. 18 aboard a boat in Nice’s harbor, said he would be running for the presidency of the Provence Alpes Cote d’Azur region, which includes the large Jewish communities in Marseille and Nice. Le Pen, who has a history of making anti- Semitic statements, got over a quarter of the vote in that region in the first round of last year’s general election. Elections are set for March 2004. Le Pen’s National Front currently holds 37 of 123 seats on the regional council.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.