PARIS (AP) — Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of France’s main far-right party, died on Tuesday at 96, but the anti-immigration and nationalist ideas that propelled his decades of popularity remain ascendant in the country, across Europe and beyond.
Le Pen’s daughter, Marine Le Pen, transformed the National Front, now named the National Rally, into one of France’s most powerful political forces as she is now eyeing the 2027 presidential election.
Here’s a look at the key dates in the life and career of one of France’s most controversial political figures, and his legacy.
1954-1957
Born in 1928 in the western region of Brittany, Jean-Marie Le Pen served in the military, fighting to maintain French colonial rule in Indochina and Algeria. He was a paratrooper in the 1957 battle of Algiers, later acknowledging violent actions he described as imposed by the hierarchy, in response to media reports accusing him of torture.
Le Pen was first elected as a lawmaker in the French National Assembly in 1956 under the banner of a populist party.
1972
Jean-Marie Le Pen founded the National Front in a move to increase support for his anti-immigration, nationalist approach and to be able to run as a presidential candidate in the 1974 election, when he got 0.74% of the vote.
1984
The National Front became a well-established force in French politics by winning 10 seats in the European Parliament, including one for Le Pen.
1987
In an interview in 1987, Le Pen referred to the Nazi gas chambers as a “detail in World War II history.” He would repeat the remark in 2015, saying he “did not at all” regret it, triggering the ire of his daughter — by then the party leader.
2002
Le Pen qualified for the second round of the French presidential election, prompting a major political shock. In a rare joining of forces, supporters of the right and left poured into the streets of France in a massive show of solidarity against him.
Conservative rival Jacques Chirac went on to win in a landslide victory with a record 82% of the vote.
A year later, Le Pen said he wanted the notion of “national preference” written into the French Constitution to limit employment, housing opportunities and other social assistance to French citizens. Immigration is “the greatest danger we’re facing,” he said.
2011
Le Pen’s daughter, Marine Le Pen, became the leader of the National Front in 2011. She sought to make the party more mainstream, trying to remove the stigma of racism and antisemitism that clung to the party under her father.
2015
Jean-Marie Le Pen was expelled from the National Front due to i ncreasingly shocking statements. Three years later, in 2018, he lost his title of honorary president-for-life and the party changed its name to become the National Rally.
2017 and 2022
Marine Le Pen twice ran for president and reached the second round, losing to centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron. In 2022, she received 41.5% of the vote in the second round, significantly improving her results compared to 2017, when she got 33.9%.
In July 2022, she was elected as a member of the National Assembly, France’s powerful house of parliament, further consolidating her political influence.
2024
The National Rally became one of the three major blocs and a powerful opposition group at the National Assembly, winning over 120 seats at surprise legislative elections called by President Emmanuel Macron.
At the end of 2024, Marine Le Pen and other officials went on trial over accusations of having used money intended for European Union parliamentary aides to instead pay staff who worked for the party between 2004 and 2016.
She faces a potential prison term and a ban on running for political office as the verdict is expected in March.
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