Jean-Marie Le Pen, an unabashed nationalist and founder of the French far-right National Front (Front National) party, has died aged 96, French media said on Tuesday.
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 succeeded as party chief by his daughter, Marine Le Pen, 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.
Reactions to Jean-Marie Le Pen’s death
Jordan Bardella, Chairman of the far-right national rally
“Jean-Marie Le Pen is dead. Enlisted in the uniform of the French army in Indochina and Algeria, orator in the National Assembly and the European Parliament, he always served France, defended its identity and its sovereignty. Today my thoughts are with his family, his loved ones, and of course of (his daughter) Marine whose mourning must be respected.”
Eric Zemmour, former far-right presidential candidate
“Beyond the controversies, beyond the scandals, what we will remember about him in the coming decades is that he was among the first to alert France to the existential threats that awaited it. His legacy will be his vision and his courage, at a time when courageous men were not so numerous.”
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