A French court yesterday sentenced far-right leader Marine Le Pen to a five-year ban on running for office with immediate effect, throwing into doubt her bid to stand for president in 2027.
The judge also gave her a four-year prison term, which is to be served with an electronic tag, drawing immediate criticism from her party and other far-right leaders.
Including 56-year-old Le Pen, nine figures from her National Rally (RN) party were convicted over a scheme where they took advantage of European Parliament expenses to employ assistants who were actually working for the party.
Photo: AFP
Twelve assistants were also convicted of concealing a crime, with the court estimating the scheme was worth 2.9 million euros (US$3.14 million).
All the RN officials, including Le Pen, were banned from running for office, with the judge specifying that the sanction should come into force with immediate effect even if an appeal is lodged.
“The court took into consideration, in addition to the risk of reoffending, the major disturbance of public order if a person already convicted ... was a candidate in the presidential election,” presiding judge Benedicte de Perthuis said.
Three-time presidential candidate Le Pen, who scents her best-ever chance of winning the French presidency in 2027, has vehemently denied any wrongdoing.
She left the courtroom after her conviction and the sanction was announced, but before the judge announced rulings on a potential prison sentence and fine, an Agence France-Presse correspondent said.
Le Pen said in a piece for La Tribune Dimanche newspaper published on Sunday that the verdict gives the “judges the right of life or death over our movement.”
With her RN emerging as the single largest party in parliament after last year’s legislative elections, Le Pen believed she has the momentum to finally take the Elysee in 2027 on the back of public concern over immigration and the cost of living. Polls currently predict that she would easily top the first round of voting and make the second round two-candidate run-off.
The reaction from Moscow to the verdict was swift.
“More and more European capitals are going down the path of violating democratic norms,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“Je suis Marine!” (“I am Marine”), Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban wrote on X in support.
Waiting in the wings is her protege and RN party leader Jordan Bardella, just 29, who is not under investigation in the case.
Bardella, reacting to the verdict, said French democracy was “executed” with the “unjust” verdict.
In a documentary broadcast by BFMTV late on Sunday, Le Pen for the first time explicitly gave her blessing to Bardella becoming president.
“Of course he has the capacity to become president of the republic,” she said.
However, there are doubts even within the party over the so-called “Plan B” and whether he has the experience for a presidential campaign.
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