French far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen has died at the age of 96.
Le Pen, who had been in a care facility for several weeks, died at noon on Tuesday "surrounded by his loved ones", his family said.
Jean-Marie Le Pen was a French soldier and politician, leader of the far-right National Front party from 1972 to 2011. Although he had retired from French political life for several years, the mark left by the co-founder of the National Front in the electoral landscape it is very intense.
Le Pen shocked the French political establishment when he reached the second round of the presidential election against Jacques Chirac in 2002, exploiting a mixture of combative spirit, populism and eloquence. With these characteristics, he has led to the reformulation of the parameters of French politics, in a 40-year career which, by exploiting voter dissatisfaction with immigration and job security, in a way "announced" the rise of Donald Trump to White House in the coming years.
In one way or another, Jean-Marie Le Pen spent his life fighting, whether as a soldier in France's colonial wars, or as the founder of the National Front, with which he participated in five presidential elections, or in disputes with his daughters and his ex-wife, which were often conducted in public and furiously.
His positions were also extreme regarding the European Union, which he considered a supranational project that usurps the powers of the nation states.
His daughter, Marine Le Pen, succeeded him as head of the party and has since been a three-time presidential candidate, renaming the party National Alarm and turning it into one of the country's main political forces.
Source: protothema.gr
