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Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of France’s far-right National Front party and a controversial figure in French politics, has died at the age of 96.
Le Pen reached the second round of the 2002 French presidential election in a moment that shocked France and led voters to vote heavily for his opponent Jacques Chirac to block the far right from power.
His daughter, Marine Le Pen, succeeded him as party leader in 2011 and has twice reached the second round of presidential elections. She has sought to soften the party’s image, renaming it the Rassemblement National and excluding her father from the party.
In a statement to AFP, Le Pen’s family said that he had died on Tuesday at midday.
Jordan Bardella, president of RN, confirmed Le Pen’s death in a statement on X.
Paying tribute to the far-right leader, he said that Le Pen had “always served France, defended its identity and its sovereignty”, as both a political leader and soldier in the French army in Vietnam and Algeria.
“Today I think with sadness of his family, his loved ones, and of course of Marine whose mourning must be respected,” he said.
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