French far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen has died at the age of 96

Le Pen’s daughter Marine took over as party leader in 2011. He then rebranded the party as National Rally, making it one of France’s main political forces.

Jordan Bardella, who will succeed Marine Le Pen as party president in 2022, said Jean-Marie “has always served France” and “defended her identity and sovereignty.”

Far-right nationalist Eric Zemmur said in X that “controversies and scandals aside,” Le Pen will be remembered as “one of the first to warn of the existential dangers lurking in France.”

Respect for the dignity of the dead and the grief of their families “does not cancel the right to judge their actions. Jean-Marie Le Pen’s actions are intolerable,” said Jean-Luc Mélenchon (LFI), leader of the French radical left. “The fight against the man is over. The fight against hatred, racism, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism spread by him continues.”

For several decades, Le Pen has been France’s most controversial political figure. 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 Holocaust denial.

The dismissal also came amid a public spat with his daughter, who accused him of denying the Holocaust and trying to “save himself from obscurity”.