Jean-Marie Le Pen, builder of the French far right, died Tuesday January 7 in an establishment in Garches (Hauts-de-Seine), at the age of 96. Born on June 20, 1928 in Morbihan, the finalist in the 2002 presidential election left his mark on the history of the Fifth Republic. A look back in ten dates on his long career.
► 1954: commitment to the Legion
Jean-Marie Le Pen joined as a volunteer in 1954. He was first a second lieutenant in the 1st foreign parachute battalion (BEP) in Indochina, before being promoted to lieutenant in the 1st BEP, in Suez and in Algeria.
► 1956: elected deputy
Beginning of his political career. Jean-Marie Le Pen was elected deputy for the Seine on January 2, 1956, on a Poujadist list. At 28 years old, he is the youngest member of the National Assembly. Nine months later, he left the benches of the hemicycle and returned to Algeria for six months, in the 1is foreign parachute regiment.
► 1972: co-founder of the FN
In 1972, he co-founded the National Front (FN), the ancestor of the National Rally, of which he was constantly re-elected president until 2011, when the youngest of his three daughters, Marine, replaced him.
► 1984: elected MEP
With nine other FN elected officials, Jean-Marie Le Pen entered the European Parliament in June 1984. He was re-elected several times until 2014, and only stopped running in 2019.
► 1986: return to the Assembly
Jean-Marie Le Pen returns to the National Assembly with 34 other FN deputies, benefiting from the use of proportional voting.
► 1987: the “detail” of the story
The co-founder of the FN provoked the first in a long series of scandals by declaring that the “gas chambers” are a ” detail “ of the history of the Second World War. He was definitively convicted by the Court of Cassation on March 27, 2018 for contesting crimes against humanity.
► 2002: “the thunderbolt” of the presidential election
He caused a political earthquake by reaching the second round of the presidential election (16.86%) against outgoing President Jacques Chirac, who beat him largely thanks to a large Republican front.
► 2015: excluded from the FN
Jean-Marie Le Pen is excluded from the FN following a violent falling out with his daughter, after his repeated polemical comments on the Shoah and Pétain. He lost the honorary presidency of the party in March 2018.
► 2018: family reunification
Family warming on the occasion of his 90th birthday. Jean-Marie Le Pen becomes closer to his eldest daughter Marie-Caroline, banned from the FN twenty years earlier for political differences, and to Marine, whom he will support during the 2022 presidential election.
► 2024: escapes his trial
In 2023, a heart attack will significantly reduce it. A year later, in February, his family placed him under a form of guardianship. In June, his state of health was judged « incompatible » with an appearance at the trial of the National Rally for embezzlement of public funds to the detriment of the European Parliament.
