According to his family, Jean-Marie Le Pen, the legendary head of France’s far-right, has away at the age of 96, reports RTE.
According to a statement from his family, Mr. Le Pen passed away at noon “surrounded by his loved ones” after spending several weeks in a care facility.
Over the course of a 40-year career, he contributed to rewriting the boundaries of French politics, reports RTE.
When he advanced to the second round of the 2002 presidential election on a resolute anti-immigration platform, Mr. Le Pen, the co-founder of the National Front, shocked France.
Mr. Le Pen, an outspoken nationalist, was the bane of the European Union, which he seen as a supranational endeavour that usurped the authority of member states and tapped into the same type of hatred that led to Britain’s vote, reports RTE.
He claimed that his ideals had become mainstream, as seen by the ascent of the extreme right throughout Europe.
In addition to his notorious dismissal of the Holocaust as a historical event, he was frequently accused of racism and anti-Semitism.
In an attempt to disassociate her movement from his reputation as an extreme, his daughter Marine Le Pen took over as party head in 2011 and expelled him four years later, reports RTE.
Since changing its name to National Rally (RN), the party has gained a lot of support.
It made significant gains in the elections for the European Parliament last year, and in a following general election in France, it emerged as the largest single party.
Jordan Bardella, the leader of the RN party and Ms. Le Pen’s right-hand man, claimed that Mr. Le Pen has “always served France” in a well-crafted homage, reports RTE.
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