Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of France's far-right National Front party, dies at 96

Source: CNN World

Updated 7:53 AM EST, Tue January 7, 2025


Paris CNN — Jean-Marie Le Pen, father of Marine Le Pen and the defining figure of France’s postwar far-right movement, has died at the age of 96, according to French network BFMTV.

From founding the National Front party, which his daughter has taken to new heights as the National Rally party, to his election as France’s youngest lawmaker, Jean-Marie Le Pen was present at every stage of the French far right’s post-war history.

His political career spanned decades. In 1956, at the age of 27, he was elected to the French National Assembly. He then forged the National Front in 1972 with wartime Nazi collaborators and veterans of France’s colonial disasters in Algeria and then-Indochina.

In 2007, he became the oldest person to stand as a presidential candidate in what would become his fifth unsuccessful attempt. He reached his 90th birthday as a member of the European parliament – a post he retained until 2019.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/07/europe/jean-marie-le-pen-dies-founder-national-front-party-france-intl/index.html