The party was founded on 5 October 1972 by Jean-Marie Le Pen. The party was first called the National Front for French Unity ("Front national pour l'unité française"). Their most successful performance in the legislative elections was in 1997, where they received 14.9% of the vote in the 1st round and 5.7% in the 2nd round. Recently, they won the 2014 European Parliament election with 24.85% of the vote.