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Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of France's far-right National Front party, who campaigned against immigration and spent decades annoying rival French politicians from left to center-right, has died at the age of 96.
Le Pen He reached the second round of the French presidential elections in 2002 in a moment that shocked France and prompted voters to cast their votes en masse for his rival Jacques Chirac to prevent the far right from power.
His daughter, Marine Le PenHe succeeded him as party leader in 2011 and twice reached the second round of presidential elections. She sought to improve the party's image, renaming it the National Rally and overseeing her father's exclusion from the party.
Le Pen's family said in a statement to Agence France-Presse that he died on Tuesday afternoon.
Paying tribute to the far-right leader in .
He added: “Today I think with sadness of his family, his loved ones, and of course the Marines whose mourning must be respected.”
Le Pen co-founded the National Front party in 1972 and catalyzed the far-right movement.
The National Rally Party said in a statement: “Amid adversity and contempt, this small national party, which has no means and no future, has been elevated to the rank of important political formations.”
Francois Bayrou, President Emmanuel Macron's current prime minister, praised Le Pen's political stamina.
“Besides the disagreements that were his favorite weapon and our necessary disagreements about the substance (of his arguments), JM Le Pen was a figure in French political life,” Bayrou said on the X programme. “He was a fighter.”
In a brief statement acknowledging Le Pen's death, the Elysee said: “The President of France expresses his condolences to his family and loved ones.”
Convicted on multiple occasions of hate speech and discrimination, including Holocaust denial, Jean-Marie Le Pen has never been able to fully enter the mainstream of French politics – something his daughter Marine has only achieved in the past few years.
He described the Nazi gas chambers as a “hinge” from history, and his extremist and anti-Semitic views led to his exclusion from the party he founded.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the far-left France Proud party, said Jean-Marie Le Pen's actions during his lifetime remained “unbearable” even for people who respect the dignity and grief of the dead. Their loved ones.
“The battle against the man is over. The battle against the hatred, racism, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism he spreads continues,” Mélenchon said.
Although Marine Le Pen's National Front party sought to distance itself from its founder, the party said Jean-Marie Le Pen “proved to be a visionary, pushing into public debate the big issues that govern political life today,” such as immigration. The impact of globalization on France.
In the legislative elections that took place last summer, the National Front failed to achieve its goal of forming a government, but it emerged as the largest political party in the country.
Marine Le Pen has steadily increased her share of the vote in the three presidential elections she has contested, and is expected to run for a fourth time in 2027, unless she is disqualified by a court ruling in a case related to the embezzlement of European Union funds.
