French far-right politician Marine Le Pen announced herself as a candidate in June’s parliamentary elections on Sunday, following her presidential election defeat by Emmanuel Macron in April.

“I hope that we will have a strong presence in parliament to lead, once again, the fight against the social policies that Emmanuel Macron wants to put in place,” she stated, going on to add she would run for re-election in her northern constituency of Pas-de-Calais.

Le Pen made the statement during a visit to the town of Henin-Beaumont marking Victory Day, saying she was the president’s main rival, signalling to hard-left politician Jean-Luc Melenchon.

Melenchon came in third place in the first round of the presidential election, Reuters reports, and is heading up a coalition of left-wing parties hoping to deny Macron a parliamentary majority.

“The reality is that Jean-Luc Melenchon helped get Emmanuel Macron elected, so that completely discredits his ability to position himself as an opponent,” Le Pen said, underlining her dispute with the left-wing politician on immigration and law and order matters.

As it stands, the National Rally – Le Pen’s party - holds just seven seats in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament. The party refuses to form an alliance with far-right candidate Eric Zemmour and his party Reconquete.

President Emmanuel Macron was sworn in for his second term as president on Saturday, pledging to lead France with a new method: "We need to invent a new method together, far from tired traditions and routines, with which we can build a new productive, social and ecological contract," he said, vowing to act with "respect" and "consideration".

Macron's inauguration indicated the start of campaigning for the June 12-19 parliamentary vote.