PARIS: The co-founder and former president of French far-right party National Front, Jean-Marie Le Pen, has been hospitalised due to a medical emergency, French media reported late on Saturday.
The 94-year-old suddenly complained of severe exhaustion on Saturday in his home in the town of Rueil-Malmaison, west of Paris, the weekly magazine Le Point wrote, reported German news agency (dpa).
The reason for his hospitalisation may be heart problems, the magazine reported, citing a friend of the political veteran and other unnamed sources.
The news channel BFMTV and the newspaper Le Figaro also reported on Jean-Marie Le Pen’s admission to a hospital in Paris. According to BFMTV, the doctors assess his state of health as “serious”.
Despite his advanced age and having retired from active politics years ago, Jean-Marie Le Pen still enjoys influence on the French right.
He co-founded the National Front (FN) in 1972 and led it for nearly four decades.
His daughter Marine Le Pen took over the leadership of the party from him in 2011, she changed the name to National Rally and has been trying ever since to make the party electable by adopting a more moderate approach to broaden the once-marginal party’s appeal.
The right-wing populist broke politically with her father after he repeatedly thwarted her strategy. The FN finally expelled Jean-Marie Le Pen in 2015 for his repeated comments downplaying the Holocaust.
Jean-Marie Le Pen fought back bitterly, accused his daughter of “treason” and fought a long-term public feud with her. - Bernama
