A “talkative” side but another secretive. Behind the public figure of Jean-Marie Le Pen, certain political or family maneuvers were well kept from the majority. About the end of his life, the leader of the French extreme right, whose death was announced this Tuesday, began to speak out.
Did he really want to win the presidential election in 2002? What was his relationship with his daughter Marine Le Pen? How did he envision his political legacy? The journalist and author of Testament of the Devil: the last secrets of Jean-Marie Le Pen, Azzeddine Ahmed-Chaouch spoke with the founder of the National Front and his relatives for his book. He delivers several revelations to 20 Minutes.
“He never wanted power”
He had a costume tailored for provocation and opposition. For a long time around 15% of the vote, Jean-Marie Le Pen was far from imagining himself at the gates of power on April 21, 2002 against Jacques Chirac, taking advantage of the divisions of the left. When the first exit estimates from the polls fell, making him qualified for the second round, “he is depressed, sad, he is afraid,” reports Azzeddine Ahmed-Chaouch, according to confidences from his wife, Jany Le Pen.
“He believes that he is not ready, that he does not have the troops to support him, he has always been content with the role of protester, it is more complicated to propose reforms and finally , it requires work and Jean-Marie Le Pen does not work, he takes very few notes, watches a lot of TV, his life could change,” adds the journalist.
He was, moreover, convinced of disturbing the highest figures in power, convinced that he was the heart of a conspiracy. “He always imagined that a contract was hanging over his head, that if it exceeded 15%, we could eliminate it,” says Azzeddine Ahmed-Chaouch. A sort of “conspiracy paranoia” which played a role in his refusal to actually reach the Elysée.
The “parricide” of Marine Le Pen
This tumultuous father-daughter relationship is “at the heart of the family saga”, summarizes Azzeddine Ahmed-Chaouch according to whom Marine Le Pen has “always been torn between her mother Pierrette and her father Jean-Marie”. After what the journalist describes as a “family quarrel”, the mother of the three girls (Marine, Yann and Marie-Caroline) is kicked out of the marital home. Marine Le Pen thus found herself without her mother in Montretout in Saint-Cloud (Hauts-de-Seine) and did not go to see her for 15 years.
In the Le Pen family, politics is never far away. Which will become another source of tension. It is not Marine Le Pen who is in the front line to become the heir to the president of the National Front. Jean-Marie Le Pen first thought of Marie-Caroline, but the latter left with a “megretist”, named Bruno Mégret, considered a traitor after having slammed the door of the FN with many executives in 1999. He “then propels Marine Le Pen onto a TV set and will find her rather good”, retains Azzeddine Ahmed-Chaouch.
Her career is launched but the strategy of “de-demonization” that the now president of the party put in place from 2011 and the distance she puts between herself and her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen sees it “like a betrayal”. according to the journalist. The youngest first leaves Montretout after the death of one of her favorite cats, Artémis, who she believes was killed by Sergent and Major, her father’s last two Dobermans. A year later, in 2015, it was the final blow that he described as “patricide”: his ouster from the party he founded. Relations become very tense, for the first time in 2017, two May 1sts are organized separately. Despite some timid warming, the cold set in between father and daughter.
After him “the flood”
Did Jean-Marie Le Pen really want an heir? “He always wanted to remain the owner of the Le Pen name in politics” and ultimately always put obstacles in the way of those capable of overshadowing him, analyzes Azzeddine Ahmed-Chaouch. “With an oversized ego, Jean-Marie Le Pen believed that only he could embody his national fight. It was a bit “after me, the flood”,” adds the journalist.
Our file on the death of Jean-Marie Le Pen
In fact, he will leave an indelible mark on the French political landscape. Even if he never reached a position of responsibility, he was able to impose his ideas which are widely taken up today in daily public debate and by members of the executive. “He is the pioneer of uninhibited discourse and succeeded in imbuing society with his far-right ideas on questions of immigration, identity, xenophobia, it was perhaps his greatest pride and his true heritage,” analyzes Azzeddine Ahmed-Chaouch again. A successful political rise thanks to his talent for slogan strategy and his ability to create buzz with the soundbite. Up to the glass ceiling that he really didn’t want to break.
