For 50 years the name Le Pen, synonymous with nationalism and the far right, has haunted French politics. Now Marine Le Pen has her most realistic shot yet at the prize that she and her father have been pursuing for a generation: the French presidency.

This morning, the French presidential election is wide open after Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen topped the first round yesterday to go through to the run-off.

A poll by the Ifop institute for TF1, the French television channel, said Macron was on course to defeat his populist rival in the second round by the slimmest of margins - 51 per cent to 49 per cent.

The gap is within the margin of error, meaning there will be everything to play for in a fortnight's time on Sunday 24th April.

Le Pen and her National Rally (NR) party advocate a "French first" policy agenda that many see as racist. This year the party's platform includes strictly limiting immigration, banning Muslim women from wearing headscarves in public, preventing non-citizens from accessing welfare and allowing employers to discriminate based on nationality.

To enact these changes, Le Pen would organise a referendum to remove parts of the French constitutionA document that sets out the fundamental rules according to which a country is governed, which are usually difficult to change. guaranteeing the right to equality before the law. "What Marine Le Pen proposes is a kind of coup d'etat," says constitutional expert Dominique Rousseau.

Policies like this have always made the RN divisive. This year, Le Pen's close ties to the authoritarian and warmongering Russian president Vladimir Putin have added to the alarm.

Putin openly endorsed her during the 2017 election when she visited him in Moscow. She has accepted large loans from banks associated with the Russian state, leading Macron to accuse her of being "funded by Russia" and "indulging" his invasion of Ukraine.

Despite this controversy, Le Pen has softened her party's image. She has played up her love of cats and promised a "calmer" politics while focusing on the rising cost of living.

Analysts say improved poll numbers show that Le Pen has been successful in detoxifying the image of the RN - a goal she has held since she succeeded her father Jean-Marie as party leader in 2011.

The older Le Pen was open about his sympathies with fascism. He downplayed the seriousness of the HolocaustThe murder of six million Jewish people in Europe by Nazi Germany. Members of other minority groups were also killed.  and defended France's collaborationWorking together. with Nazi Germany during World War Two.

Marine expelled Jean-Paul from the party in 2015. Yet many commentators believe that the break from what they call "classical fascism" is only skin-deep. Members of her revamped party, says one critic, are "hobgoblins in designer suits".

Others disagree. Jean-Yves Camus, an expert on the far right, points out that she is seeking to gain power through democracy rather than force. "Simply put, the RN is not a Fascist party," he says.

Yes: Beware of wolves in sheep's clothing. She may not have a toothbrush moustache, but Marine Le Pen's vision for a society in which race and nationality determine your fate is one that Hitler and Mussolini would welcome.

No: Marine Le Pen is a legitimate democratic politician. However appalling you might find her views, they should be debated, not dismissed by critics using alarmist labels.

Or... Let's not get bogged down in debates about terminology. A politics of discrimination based on nationality, religion and race should be unwelcome under any guise.

Constitution - A document that sets out the fundamental rules according to which a country is governed, which are usually difficult to change.

Holocaust - The murder of six million Jewish people in Europe by Nazi Germany. Members of other minority groups were also killed.

Collaboration - Working together.