French far-right veteran Jean-Marie Le Pen has said his daughter Marine, who faces centrist Emmanuel Macron in a 7 May presidential run-off, should have campaigned more aggressively for Sunday's first round, following the example of US President Donald Trump.
With 7.5 million votes, Ms Le Pen beat the National Front party's previous election record on Sunday but failed to pip pro-EU Macron to the first place.
The intervention by her father follows her announcement yesterday that she plans to step back from day-to-day management of the far-right party he founded ahead of the run-off and marks the latest tussle between the two of them over its future direction.
"I think her campaign was too laid-back. If I'd been in her place I would have had a Trump-like campaign, a more open one, very aggressive against those responsible for the decadence of our country, whether left or right," the 88-year-old told RTL radio.
The two have been at odds since Ms Le Pen began moves to clean the National Front's image of xenophobic associations in the run-up to the campaign for the 2017 presidency.
Macron criticised for taking victory for granted
Mr Le Pen shocked the world in 2002 by qualifying for the second round of the presidential election before losing by a landslide to conservative Jacques Chirac.
He was frequently accused of making xenophobic and anti-Semitic statements and Ms Le Pen expelled him from the party in 2015.
However, as the party's founder he remains a well-known figure and represents a body of opinion in the party.
In another sign of his influence, the National Front has borrowed about €6m from a political fundraising association he heads.
Ms Le Pen's decision to take a leave of absence from the day-to-day management of the party appeared to be an attempt to portray herself as being above the narrow world of National Front politics and broaden her appeal to the wider electorate ahead of the crucial run-off vote.
Her programme calls for sharp curbs on immigration and on the rights of immigrants living in France, as well as the expulsion of foreigners under suspicion of having militant Islamist links.
But she is seeking all the same to distance herself from the toxic legacy of her father and the xenophobic and anti-semitic undertones of his previous campaigns.
Under France's Fifth Republic, the president is the head of state, very much like a monarch in other countries, a role described by founder Charles De Gaulle as being above party politics.
She may also be seeking to play Mr Macron at his own game, as the 39-year old centrist has refused to join mainstream parties, and consistently described his "En Marche!" (Onwards!) party structure as a "movement" transcending the left-right divide.
Meanwhile, the French Embassy in Dublin has published a breakdown of all votes in Sunday's election run off.
In Ireland, Ms Le Pen secured 3.98% of votes cast here, while Mr Macron secured 44.87%.
