French far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen has died aged 96, according to a family statement shared with AFP.
Le Pen, who had been in a care facility for several weeks, died at noon on Tuesday “surrounded by his loved ones”, the family said.
Le Pen – a Holocaust denier and unrepentant extremist on race, gender and immigration – founded France's far-right National Front party in 1972.
He made it to a runoff in the 2002 presidential election against Jacques Chirac.
Le Pen's daughter, Marine, took over as party leader in 2011. She has since renamed the party the National Assembly, making it one of France's main political forces.
Jordan Bardella, who succeeded Marine Le Pen as party president in 2022, said Jean-Marie had “always served France” and “defended its identity and sovereignty”.
Far-right nationalist Eric Zemmour said on X that “beyond the controversies and scandals” Le Pen will be remembered for being “among the first to warn France of the existential threats lurking.”
Respect for the dignity of the dead and the grief of their families “does not abrogate the right to judge their actions. Those of Jean-Marie Le Pen are intolerable,” said Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the radical left France Unbowed (LFI). “The fight against this man is over. The fight against the hatred, racism, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism he spreads continues.”
For several decades, Le Pen was the most controversial political figure in France. His critics denounced him as a far-right fanatic and the courts convicted him several times for his radical statements.
In 2015 he was kicked out of the National Rally after repeating his infamous Holocaust denial.
The sacking also came amid a public feud with his daughter, who accused him of repeating Holocaust denial to try to “save himself from obscurity”.