Editor’s note: This profile was originally published on 11 November 2022. It was republished on 10 June 2024, following President Macron’s snap election announcement.
BERLIN – Until last week, France’s largest far-right party, the National Rally (RN), had been led by someone named Le Pen throughout its 50-year history. Its first leader was Jean-Marie Le Pen, a convicted Holocaust denier who founded the party as the National Front (FN) in 1972. Jean-Marie handed over power to his daughter Marine in 2011, who renamed the party in an attempt to rebrand it. But the RN is no longer headed by a Le Pen: Jordan Bardella, a photogenic 27-year-old, was elected on 5 November as its president.
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