Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder and former leader of France‘s hard-right National Front party and the father of Marine Le Pen, has died at the age of 96.
Le Pen, who had been in a care facility for several weeks, died at midday Tuesday ‘surrounded by his loved ones’, his family said in a statement. His death was also confirmed by a senior party official.
Le Pen shook the French political establishment when he unexpectedly reached the presidential election run-off vote against Jacques Chirac in 2002, with his pugnacious mix of populism and charisma.
He was known for his fiery rhetoric against immigration and multiculturalism that earned him both staunch supporters and widespread condemnation.
His controversial statements, including Holocaust denial, led to multiple convictions and strained his political alliances.
Le Pen was succeeded as party chief by his daughter, Marine, who 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.
Jordan Bardella, the current president of the National Rally, paid tribute to the party’s figurehead on X, saying he was a man who ‘always served France, defended its identity and its sovereignty.’
‘Today I think with sadness of his family, his loved ones, and of course of Marine whose mourning must be respected,’ the 29-year-old leader wrote.
French former leader and founder of the French far-right party Front national (FN) Jean-Marie Le Pen
Jean-Marie Le Pen, France’s National Front political party founder, embraces his daughter Marine Le Pen, who succeeded him as the party’s leader