JEAN-Marie Le Pen, the nationalist founder of the French far-right National Front party, has died aged 96.
Le Pen, who had been in a care facility for several weeks, died at midday Tuesday “surrounded by his loved ones”, the family said in a statement.
Le Pen was one of the most influential figures in post-war French politics, having come runner up in the presidential election of 2002.
He was president of the Front National (FN) party – now known as the National Rally (RN) – from 1972 to 2011, and Honorary President from 2011 to 2015.
He focused on issues related to immigration, the European Union, and law and order, while receiving criminal convictions for a range of crimes, including Holocaust denial.
Le Pen was succeeded as party chief by his daughter, Marine Le Pen.
She has since run for the presidency three times and turned the party, now branded the National Rally, into one of the country’s main political forces.
With a career spanning over six decades, Jean-Marie Le Pen transformed French politics, reshaping the nation’s discourse on immigration, security, and national identity.
Le Pen’s political journey began with his election as the youngest MP in 1956, at the age of 27.
Over the years, he evolved from a fringe figure to a political force that no one could ignore.
A former paratrooper, Le Pen sent shock waves through France in 2002 when he made it to the second round of the presidential election, which was won by Jacques Chirac.
This achievement marked a turning point for the far-right in France, bringing its ideas into mainstream political debate.
A charismatic orator and provocateur, Jean-Marie Le Pen thrived in controversy.
His unapologetic rhetoric on immigration, nationalism, and the European Union drew fierce criticism, as did his repeated dismissals of the Holocaust as a “detail of history,” remarks that earned him convictions for anti-Semitism and racism.
Despite the backlash, Le Pen was unrepentant.
“If I shocked people, it was never a problem for me, but for others,” he once said.
A trained lawyer and paratrooper, Le Pen sported an eye patch for years, adding to his combative image.
Contrary to rumors that he lost the eye in a brawl, he later revealed it was the result of a tent peg accident.
In 1976, a bomb detonated outside his Paris apartment, narrowly missing his family.
Eight years later, his wife Pierrette left him, famously posing for Playboy in a French maid’s outfit in defiance of his suggestion that she work as a cleaner.
Though often polarising, Le Pen’s leadership laid the foundation for the rise of his daughter, Marine Le Pen, who took over the National Front in 2011.
Le Pen’s relationship with Marine was fraught with tension.
She re-branded the party as the National Rally and steered it into becoming one of France’s dominant political forces.
She has run for president three times, building on her father’s legacy while distancing herself from some of her dad’s controversial statements.
Their political cohabitation ended in 2015 when she expelled him from the party following another Holocaust-related controversy.
Le Pen described the move as a “betrayal,” and their estrangement deepened when Marine re-branded the party as the National Rally in 2018.
Despite these personal and political challenges, Le Pen’s influence endured.
Under Marine’s leadership, the National Rally has become one of France’s most formidable political forces, achieving significant gains in European and national elections.
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