Tue Jan 07 13:21:00 UTC 2025: **Jean-Marie Le Pen, Founder of France’s Far-Right National Front, Dies at 96**
PARIS (January 7, 2025) – Jean-Marie Le Pen, the controversial founder of France’s far-right National Front party, died today at the age of 96. Le Pen, a former paratrooper and lawyer, spent decades shaping French politics with his inflammatory rhetoric against immigration and his minimization of the Holocaust.
His political career spanned over half a century, marked by a shocking near-victory in the 2002 presidential election, where he reached the second round before losing to Jacques Chirac. Le Pen’s provocative style and outspoken anti-Semitism led to numerous convictions and ultimately, his expulsion from the party he co-founded by his daughter, Marine Le Pen, in 2015. Marine Le Pen, who took over leadership of the party (renamed the National Rally), embarked on a campaign to distance the party from her father’s controversial legacy.
Despite the controversies, Le Pen’s influence on the far-right landscape is undeniable. His ideas, once considered fringe, have gained mainstream traction in Europe. While his later years were marked by estrangement from his daughter and granddaughter, the National Rally, under Marine Le Pen’s leadership, continues to be a significant force in French and European politics. Le Pen’s death marks the end of an era for French far-right politics, leaving behind a complex and contentious legacy.
First Piper 