French far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen has passed away at the age of 96, according to a family statement shared with AFP.
Le Pen, who had prior to his death, been in a care facility for several weeks, died at midday on Tuesday “surrounded by his loved ones”, according to the family.
Le Pen had notoriously been a Holocaust denier and an unrepentant extremist on race, gender and immigration. He founded the French far-right National Front party in 1972 and reached the presidential election-run off against Jacques Chirac in 2002.
As the news of his death made rounds, French President Emmanuel Macron described Le Pen as a “historic figure of the far right”, adding that “history will judge” his part in the country’s political life.
Additionally, far-right nationalist, Eric Zemmour said on X that “beyond the controversies and the scandals” Le Pen would be commemorated for being “among the first to alert France of the existential threats lurking”.
Le Pen, was for several decades, France’s most controversial political figure, with his critics denouncing him as a far-right bigot and the courts convicted him several times for his radical remarks.
In a controversial interview in 1987, he pointedly played down the Holocaust – Nazi Germany’s murder of six million Jews– saying to an interviewer, “I do not say that the gas chambers did not exist. I never personally saw them. I have never particularly studied the issue, but I believe they are a point of detail in the history of World War Two.”
The French government has strict laws against Holocaust denial and Le Pen was convicted of contesting crimes against humanity and fined €30,000 ($31,180; £24,875).
The former National Front chief was also convicted of the same charge in 2012 after saying France’s Nazi occupation had been “not particularly inhumane”.
Regardless, Le Pen’s strident anti-immigration policies attracted voters. In the 1988 presidential election, he clinched 14% of the vote. That number rose to 15% in 1995, and in 2002 Le Pen managed to reach the final round of the presidential election.
However, parties across the political spectrum rallied and called on their supporters to vote against him, leading to his opponent Chirac, to win with 82%.
