Profile: Jean-Marie Le Pen

Analysts say Le Pen has little chance of winning over Chirac in the second and final round of the presidential vote, but his surprising success is a sign that the National Front has been brought into mainstream politics.

No-hope rabble rouser

Le Pen was born in 1928 in La Trinite-sur-Mer, Brittany.

He joined the Foreign Legion in 1954 and served both in Indochina and Algeria.

His political career began in 1956 as deputy for the shopkeepers’ party. A decade later, he assisted in the election campaign of far-right candidate Jean-Louis Tixier-Vignancour.

Le Pen founded the National Front in 1972. His first presidential bid saw just 0,74 per cent of the vote. His second – in 1995 - , however, 15 per cent.

Best known for his description of the Holocaust as a "detail of history" and an election punch-up five years ago which almost cost him his seat in European Parliament, he has since been written off as a no-hope rabble rouser, until Sunday’s surprising, and frightening election.

His election campaign comprises of calls for some 200,000 more prison places , the abolition of inheritance tax and a renegotiate of European treaties.

Despite placing immigration in the background of his election campaign and concentrating, much like his main contenders, on crime, immigration is still the main issue in his political manifesto.

"Massive immigration has only just begun. It is the biggest problem facing France, Europe and probably the world. We risk being submerged", he said in a newspaper interview.