Far-right politics in France - statistics & facts
On January 7th, 2025, Jean-Marie Le Pen, the historic founder of the Rassemblement National (formerly known as the Front National) far-right party, passed away at 96. Some called it 鈥渢he end of an Era,鈥 but others highlighted that Jean-Marie Le Pen's inheritance seemed stronger and more important than ever in French politics.
Indeed, in each of the 2002, 2017, and 2022 presidential elections in France, the Rassemblement National reached the second round of voting, and almost doubled their number of votes during this period. This rise in support was also reflected in the European elections of 2024, during which the far-right party even came out on top of the election, ahead of the presidential majority party, thus breaking its previous voting records. Acknowledging his party鈥檚 defeat in the European elections, President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the National Assembly and called for new legislative elections in June 2024. The party founded by Jean-Marie Le Pen achieved a historic breakthrough, obtaining 143 seats with the help of their allies in the National Assembly, compared to 89 seats in the previous elections. As a movement that was almost non-existent in the ballot box at the beginning of the 1980s, this extremist fringe of the political spectrum transformed itself to become an important player on the political and media scene in France.
