France's Jean-Marie Le Pen 'pulls out of poll'

Last week, Ms Le Pen accused her father of committing "political suicide"

The founder of the French National Front, Jean-Marie Le Pen, has said he is pulling out of regional elections amid a row with his daughter.

Marine Le Pen, who now leads the far-right party, condemned her father for his recently repeated claims Nazi gas chambers were a "detail of history".

Mr Le Pen told the Figaro newspaper he would not be standing in the south-eastern Paca region.

But he said he thought he was "the best candidate for the National Front".

Mr Le Pen said his granddaughter Marion Marechal-Le Pen would be the best person to stand in his place.

"If she accepts, I think she would head a very good list [of candidates]. She is certainly the best, I am not going to say after me, but she is," he told the newspaper.

Mr Le Pen, who is honorary president of party, did not make it clear whether he would seek a place as a candidate on the list of his granddaughter for the Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region.

Last week, in a television interview, Mr Le Pen defended his description of the Holocaust as "a detail" of World War Two - prompting Ms Le Pen to say she would block his candidacy in the December polls.

Ms Le Pen has tried to rid the party of its racist image, the BBC's Lucy Williamson in Paris reports.

Jean-Marie Le Pen: a career in controversy
1987 - First makes his infamous remarks describing the Holocaust as a "detail of history"
1997 - Assaults rival Annette Peulvast-Bergeal during parliamentary election campaign
2006 - One of many convictions for inciting racial hatred over inflammatory remarks about France's Muslim population
2007 - Tells Le Monde newspaper "you can't dispute the inequality of the races"
2015 - Repeats views on the Holocaust, prompting Marine Le Pen to accuse him of trying to "rescue himself from obscurity"