Jean-Marie Le Pen
Right-wing veteran politician Jean-Marie Le Pen founded the Front National in 1972. Reuters

The former National Front (FN)'s far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen has reportedly been lightly injured in the face after a fire broke out at his apartment in Rueil-Malmais in Hauts-de-Seine, not far from Paris.

The 86-year-old is the controversial founder of the euro-sceptic and anti-immigration party. After he left office in January 2014, the National Front leadership passed to his daughter Marine Le Pen.

After the fire, Le Pen was taken to hospital but his conditions "do not inspire concerns", said the reports.

"The house burned and my father was inside. He was injured in the face, but there's nothing serious, nothing to worry about," said Marine. "It was an accidental fire that erupted in the chimney while a worker was working."

Le Pen senior reportedly took refuge in the terrace. There is currently no evidence of of foul play in the starting the blaze.

Marine has ferried the party from a radical right-wing niche to a populist anti-immigration and anti-establishment platform. She claims that the party is removed from its racist and anti-Semitic roots, with which it was synonymous under her father's leadership.

A June 2014 poll showed that 91% of the French have a bad opinion of Le Pen.

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