The appeal court in Versailles near Paris upheld a previous ruling that the postal vote of FN party members to strip founder Jean-Marie Le Pen of his title of honorary president of the party was against the organization's rules. It confirmed the previous court decision which annulled his daughter’s attempt to suspend him from the party.

An actual congress has to be held giving Le Pen the opportunity to defend himself in the presence of party members, with a vote on the issue for the decision to be valid, the court ruled on Tuesday.

The ruling is the third court decision in recent weeks in favor of the 87-year-old Le Pen.

Marine Le Pen, the daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen, and the current party leader had sought to sideline her father. He is widely regarded as being an obstacle to her bid for presidential power in the 2017 elections. Opinion polls suggest she should reach the second round of voting.

She commented to local media: "What am I supposed to do, hire the Stade de France maybe?" The Stade de France is France's national stadium with 80,000 seats. The FN has 51,500 members.

The family dispute has intensified since Le Pen senior's public remarks in April when he repeated comments he had made in the past that Nazi gas chambers were a mere detail of history. He also defended Philippe Petain, the leader of Vichy France who collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War 2.

Le Pen is to stand trial over the remarks for denying crimes against humanity. He has been convicted more than 15 times for hate-speech and contesting crimes against humanity. He said he did not "for one moment" regret his words.

The FN said in a statement it was surprised by the court decision on Tuesday but would still count the result and make it public because of its "undeniable political significance."

Marine Le Pen is to run in regional elections later this year.

Jean-Marie Le Pen may also run in the elections. He has left open the possibility of being part of the ticket in the constituency where his granddaughter, Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, has taken over from him as party candidate.

jm/xx (Reuters, AFP)