Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of the French far-right National Front party, has died aged 96.
Le Pen shook the French political establishment when he unexpectedly reached the presidential election run-off vote against Jacques Chirac in 2002, with his pugnacious mix of populism and charisma.
He was succeeded as party chief by his daughter, Marine Le Pen in 2011.
She has since run for the presidency three times and turned the party, now branded the National Rally, into one of the country’s main political forces.
Born in 1928, Le Pen’s political career was focused on the issue of immigration in France.
He led the then-National Front from 1972 to 2011 and was honorary president from 2011 to 2015 before his own daughter kicked him out.
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