Founder of the National Front Jean-Marie Le Pen (94) in hospital after a heart attack

French media transferred Jean-Marie Le Pen, the 94-year-old founder of France’s far-right National Front party, to hospital after suffering a heart attack.

Le Pen was taken to a general hospital in the Paris region after he collapsed. Doctors describe his condition as “serious”.

“His family and loved ones are worried, but calm,” said his advisor, Lorraine de Saint-Afrique. The former politician is conscious, according to de Saint-Afrique. Le Pen has been hospitalized more often in recent years. This past February, he had a brain hemorrhage.

Le Pen was not active as a politician for several years, retiring in 2011. In 1972 he founded the National Front. With his ideas and fascinations as pillars, he spreads them always in a good mood and tirelessly: racism, anti-Semitism and nationalism. Le Pen managed to stay in the news with provocative and polarizing statements, for which he was handed heavy fines on a number of occasions.

In 2002, he almost managed to become President of France. Five times he tried to take the highest post, and in 2002 he reached the second round of elections. In the end he had to lose to Jacques Chirac.

After his retirement, his daughter, Marine Le Pen, took over as leader. The name of the party was changed to the National Rally. She wanted to get rid of the racist and anti-Semitic image that her father’s party had. In 2015, this led to her father being expelled from the party.

In last year’s presidential election, she won 41.5 percent of the vote against President Emmanuel Macron. Never before has a female radical right-wing candidate won so many votes in a French presidential election, including her father.