Mr. Le Pen has 15 days to object before the cabinet makes the decision final.

Mr. Le Pen said he cast a blank ballot today.

Mr. Le Pen has long run his party as a demanding patriarch.

Mr. Le Pen himself won 14.4 percent in the 1988 presidential elections.

Mr. Le Pen sounded like a man on the defensive.

Mr. Le Pen is to pay 10 francs to a 10th group.

Mr. Le Pen gave no signal that he intended to change his basic campaign strategies.

Mr. Le Pen, who is running his fourth campaign for the presidency got about 200,000 more votes this time out than in the 1995 race.

But Mr. Le Pen also won over about 200,000 more voters than he got in 1995.

Mr. Le Pen has said some two million immigrants should be expelled.