Jean-Marie Le Pen, historic leader of the French far right, has died

Jean-Marie Le Pen, historic leader of the French far-right party, National Front, died this Tuesday at the age of 96, in the hospital where he had been hospitalized since November in Garches, Hauts-de-Seine. “A page in French history” was turned.

“Jean-Marie Le Pen, surrounded by his family and friends, was called back to God at noon on Tuesday,” the family said in a statement sent to AFP.

Jordan Bardella current president of the party founded by Le Pen lamented the loss of the historic figure of the French extreme right.

“Jean-Marie Le Pen morreu. Wearing the uniform of the French army in Indochina and Algeria, tribune of the people in the National Assembly and the European Parliament, he always served France, defending its identity and sovereignty”, wrote Bardella.

“Today I think with sadness of his family, his loved ones and, of course, Marine, whose mourning must be respected”, he adds.

Born on June 20, 1928 in La Trinité-sur-Mer, western France, Jean-Marie Le Pen was a candidate for President of France five times and even ran for the second round of the 2002 presidential electionsbut ended up losing against Jacques Chirac.

Holocaust denier and irreducible extremist on matters of race, gender and immigration, he founded the National Front in 1972. His daughter, Marine Le Pen, he succeeded him as leader of the party in 2011, which he renamed Rassemblement National.

In reactions to the death of the historic leader of the French far right, the French Prime Minister, François Bayrousaid that whoever fought against Jean-Marie Le Pen “knew what a fighter he was“.

Also the French president, Emmanuel Macroncommented on Le Pen’s death, stating that “it is up to History to judge” the role that the politician played, for almost seventy years, in the country’s public life.

The Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleauoffered his condolences to Le Pen’s family and said that “a page in French history had been turned“.

The far-right nationalist Eric Zemmour stated in X that, “beyond the controversies and scandals”, Le Pen will be remembered for having been “one of the first to alert France to existential threats who are stalking her.”

At the other end of the political spectrum, Jean-Luc Mélenchonleader of the radical left France Without an Arc (LFI), stated that respect for the dignity of the dead and the pain of their families “does not nullify the right to judge one’s actions. Ace by Jean-Marie Le Pen are unbearable“.

“The fight against man is over. The fight against hatred, racism, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism that he spread continues”, adds Mélenchon.

For several decades, Le Pen was the most controversial political figure from France. His critics denounced him as a far-right fanatic and the courts condemned him several times for his radical statementsremember to .

Still, the strident anti-immigration policies of Le Pen attracted voters. In the 1988 presidential elections, he obtained 14% of the votes. This number rose to 15% in 1995.

In 2002, Le Pen reached the last round of the presidential elections. However, parties across the political spectrum have called on their supporters to voted against him, and his opponent Chirac won with 82% of the votes.

Em 2015, Le Pen was expelled from the National Front after repeating your infamous Holocaust denial.

The expulsion also came during a public dispute with his daughter, who accused him of reiterating Holocaust denial to try to “save himself from obscurity.”

“Perhaps, by getting rid of me, she wanted to make some kind of gesture to the establishment,” Jean-Marie Le Pen later said.