A leading figure of the French far right, Jean-Marie Le Pen died on Tuesday, January 7th, at the age of 96. A look back at a life marked by struggles, both in politics and within his family.
The most controversial figure of the Fifth Republic has just passed away. Having withdrawn from public life in 2015 following his expulsion from the National Front at the instigation of his daughter Marine, Jean-Marie Le Pen died on Tuesday, January 7, 2025, at the age of 96. “Jean-Marie Le Pen, surrounded by his family, was called to God this Tuesday at noon ,” his family announced in a statement sent to AFP. The final chapter of a life dedicated to politics, which took him from the National Assembly—he was elected the youngest member of parliament in 1956, alongside Pierre Poujade—to the very doors of the Élysée Palace in 2002. Not without some apprehension. ” When you find yourself in the position of being President of the Republic when you don’t have the means to do it, don’t you think that could legitimately create a feeling of anxiety?” he confided to Society in 2015, with his usual candor. “If not, then you’re a slacker.”
Jean-Marie Le Pen, a life of missteps
For a long time, Jean-Marie Le Pen was the pariah of the political class. This status was built on a series of gaffes and provocations: after the National Front’s electoral breakthrough in the 1983 municipal elections, and a first notable appearance on the Antenne 2 program “L’Heure de vérité” (The Moment of Truth ), the native of La Trinité (Morbihan) became particularly notorious three years later for anti-Semitic remarks targeting several journalists. He then went on to discuss the gas chambers, calling them ” a detail of the history of the Second World War .” France was shocked, the courts convicted him, but his strategy of outrage proved successful: no one was unaware of who was leading the National Front, the small group he had co-founded ten years earlier.
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