Jacques Chirac

The sitting French president was re-elected – but the far-right tops 40% of the vote for the first time.

Former French President Jacques Chirac's coffin arrived at Paris' Invalides monument on Sunday. Thousands of mourners have already paid their respects, with a memorial service and private funeral today. Chirac died last week at age 86.

France's former president Jacques Chirac has died at the age of 86. Chirac dominated French politics for decades as a member of the Fifth Republic and the second-longest serving French president. Following in the footsteps of de Gaulle, Chirac devoted much of his presidency to defending France's role as a great nation on the world stage, and is remembered for opposing the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

His political career spanned four decades.