Bruno Mégret

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Bruno Mégret (born April 4, 1949) is a French politician. He is the leader of the Mouvement National Républicain political party.

Bruno Mégret studied at the École Polytechnique and at the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, and is by profession a senior civil servant. He also holds a Master's degree from the University of California, Berkeley. A graduate of the armored cavalry school of Saumur, he is also a reserve captain.

At the end of the 1970s, he joined the Rassemblement pour la République (political party) and became technical advisor to the minister of cooperation.

In 1985 he joined Jean-Marie Le Pen's Front National (political party). In 1986 he was elected to the French National Assembly. In 1987 he organised Le Pen's election campaign and became the number two in the movement.

However, the relationship between Le Pen and Mégret turned sour during the following decade. Mégret and others inside the Front started criticizing Le Pen's "extremist" positions, which, they argued, prevented the Front from obtaining political executive positions.

In 1998, Bruno Mégret split from the Front National and founded the Mouvement National Républicain.

He received 2.33% of the vote in the first round of the 2002 French presidential election.