Jean-Marie Le Pen, Founder of France's National Front, Dies at 96

The polarizing far-right leader reshaped French politics with his nationalist rhetoric and controversial legacy.

• Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the National Front (now National Rally), passed away at 96 in Garches, France, surrounded by family.
• Le Pen's political career spanned over six decades, marked by his anti-immigration stance, Holocaust denial, and numerous legal convictions for hate speech and incitement.
• He reached the second round of the 2002 French presidential election, a shocking moment in French politics, but ultimately lost to Jacques Chirac in a landslide.
• Le Pen's leadership of the National Front brought far-right politics into mainstream French discourse, though his extremist views led to his expulsion from the party by his daughter Marine in 2015.
• Marine Le Pen, who succeeded him as party leader, has sought to distance the party from his controversial image while building it into a major political force in France.

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