Jean-Marie Le Pen, the former leader of the far-right in France, has died at the age of 96.
The veteran nationalist politician died in a hospital in the Paris region where he had been admitted a few weeks ago.
"Jean-Marie Le Pen, surrounded by his family, was called back to God at 12:00 on Tuesday," his family said in a statement sent to AFP.
Le Pen served as president of the National Front from 1972 to 2011, and was the finalist in the 2002 presidential election after his fourth attempt, losing to Jacques Chirac. He became Honorary President from 2011 to 2015.
His breakthrough triumph had its downside: for a fortnight, millions of people marched against racism and its political incarnation across France, helping his sworn enemy Jacques Chirac to be re-elected.
Le Pen will be remembered for having brought the far-right into the mainstream of French politics. His interventions were underpinned by an obsession against immigration and Jewish people.
He was kicked out of his own party in 2015 for controversial comments, which included another case of Holocaust denial, while also adding that France should get along with Russia to save the "white world".
The French nationalist has never expressed any regret for his racism and inflammatory language, which have earned him several court convictions: including the denying of Nazi gas chambers and the inequality of races, as well as the "not particularly inhumane" Nazi German Occupation of France. He also did not regret or the physically assaulting a Socialist opponent in 1997.
"Enlisted in the uniform of the French army in Indochina and Algeria, a tribune of the people in the National Assembly and the European Parliament, he has always served France, defended its identity and its sovereignty," hailed on X the president of the Rassemblement National (RN) party, heir to Jean-Marie Le Pen's Front National (FN).
The far-right politician also served as a Member of the European Parliament between 2004 and 2019. Last October, the European Parliament said it was seeking over €300,000 from Jean-Marie Le Pen for improperly claimed expenses during his tenure as an MEP.
Obituary
Born on 20 June 1928 in La Trinité-sur-Mer, Brittany, he lost his fisherman father to a sea mine explosion at age 14.
A law student in Paris, he was known for his activism and friendships, including with left-leaning filmmaker Claude Chabrol. He served in the French Foreign Legion in Indochina and developed a friendship with future film legend Alain Delon.
Returning to France, Le Pen was elected the youngest member of the National Assembly in 1956, but later faced torture accusations during his service in Algeria, which he denied.
A staunch anti-communist and supporter of French Algeria, he emerged as a far-right leader in 1972 with the establishment of the National Front. The party gained traction in 1983 with its focus on immigration, encapsulated by the slogan "A million unemployed is a million immigrants too many."
Championing "France first," Le Pen became a millionaire through an inheritance. He faced internal party divisions, including the public fallout with his wife and later, his daughter Marie-Caroline. His youngest daughter, Marine Le Pen, took over the party in 2011, eventually expelling him and attempted to rebrand the party away from his extremist legacy.
Jean-Marie Le Pen turned to writing his memoirs, continuing to promote his views on immigration and the "great replacement."
Legacy
In recent years, he supported far-right candidate Eric Zemmour in the 2022 presidential election before a heart issue ended his public engagements. From February 2024, his daughters Marie-Caroline, Yann, and Marine managed his affairs.
Following a strong performance in the European elections and a surprise dissolution of the National Assembly by President Emmanuel Macron, the National Rally believed it was close to power.
Despite facing a "republican front," the National Rally won a record number of deputies, and Marine Le Pen remains hopeful for her fourth presidential bid in 2027, despite numerous legal challenges.
This includes the Paris Prosecutors’ Office having opened an investigation into the campaign financing of her 2022 presidential campaign.
