O ex-líder da extrema-direita francesa Jean-Marie Le Pen faleceu

Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the far-right political party National Front, has passed away at the age of 96, according to a statement quoted by Agence France-Presse. Le Pen, who began running for the French presidency in 1974, shocked the French political scene in 2002 when he defeated Lionel Jospin, the then Prime Minister and member of the left-wing Socialist Party, in the first round of the presidential election and advanced to the second round of voting. In 2011, his daughter Marine Le Pen succeeded him as party leader and has since run for president three times, turning the party (now renamed National Rally) into one of the major political forces in France.