On Monday, a French court convicted Marine Le Pen of embezzlement and barred her from holding public office for five years, severely weakening her chances for the 2027 presidential election and sending shockwaves through French politics.
During an interview with French television channel TF1, Le Pen denounced the decision as a "political" move to prevent her from standing for president in 2027, claiming that millions of French people were "outraged" by the move.
Le Pen denounced the verdict as an attack on the rule of law, announcing that she will appeal and urging the court sessions to be rushed before the elections in 2027. In the meantime, she will be barred from candidacy until her appeal is decided.
The court also sentenced Le Pen to four years in prison, two to be served under home confinement and two suspended. But this sentence would not be served pending the appeal. The verdict had politically explosive implications, dampening one of the top contenders to succeed President Emmanuel Macron at the conclusion of his second and last term. The ruling was so politically charged that even some of Le Pen's opponents said that the Paris court overstepped.
It is unclear how this case will affect voters. The possibility of taking Le Pen out of the running may energize her die-hard supporters, much as legal actions against U.S. President Donald Trump energized his base. Alternatively, it could take her ambitions out of the running and erode her formerly building momentum.
Le Pen argued that the court could have made her remain on the list of candidates until her appeals were spent, as it was obviously aimed at "specifically preventing" her from becoming president. "If that isn't a political choice, then I don't know what one is," she said during her TF1 interview.
Describing the ruling as a “fateful day for our democracy,” she pledged to continue her pursuit of the presidency, despite the new, “admittedly narrow” path ahead. “There are millions of French people who believe in me, millions of French people who trust me,” she emphasized. “For 30 years I’ve been fighting for you, and for 30 years I’ve been fighting against injustice, so I’m going to continue fighting.”
Le Pen did not attend the delivery of the last sentence, as she had already left the courtroom. Her allies were quick to express their condemnation of the decision. Her 29-year-old protégé, Jordan Bardella, who might stand in her place on the ballot for 2027 if she is disqualified from standing, announced on X that Le Pen was "being unjustly condemned" and that French democracy was "being executed.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán also showed solidarity with Le Pen, tweeting "Je suis Marine!" — I am Marine — on X.
Some of Le Pen's political rivals also expressed their worries, such as conservative legislator Laurent Wauquiez, who said that the ruling imposed "a very heavy weight on our democracy."
The sentence could stop Le Pen from standing for the presidency for a fourth time in 2027, which she has already called a "political death." As the best-known politician in her party and an experienced campaigner, Le Pen was the runner-up in the presidential elections of 2017 and 2022. Her party has also gained more electoral support in recent years.
Only an appellate ruling reversing the public office prohibition could revive her presidential aspirations, though, with only two years until the election, time is getting short. Appeals in France take time, and one cannot be certain of an appeals court's decision in her favor.
The conviction constituted a major blow to Le Pen's National Rally party, previously called the National Front. Le Pen and 24 other party officials stood accused of using money meant for European Union parliamentary aides to instead spend it on party employees between 2004 and 2016, violating EU rules.
Eight other current or former party members, who had all served as European Parliament legislators, were also found guilty, along with 12 legislative aides and three other people. One defendant was acquitted. None of the defendants admitted to doing anything wrong throughout the nine-week trial, which ended in late 2024.
The senior judge reported Le Pen as being at the heart of a mechanism by which her party stole EU parliament funds, although he clarified that no one involved benefited themselves personally. The ruling characterised the theft as a "democratic bypass" that tricked both voters and the parliament.
Le Pen reacted little when the judge first ruled her guilty but visibly flared up as the specifics of the sentence were read. As the judge outlined the abuse of European funds by her party, she said "Incredible" and then suddenly exited the courtroom, her heels clicking sharply as she strode out, leaving the courtroom stunned.
The decision on her ineligibility is effective immediately, but the house arrest aspect is stayed on appeal.
Le Pen, a member of parliament in France's National Assembly, is unaffected by the decision in that capacity, although if President Macron again dissolves parliament and orders early legislative elections, she would be barred from standing.
Reporting by Leicester in Le Pecq, France, with additional reporting by Thomas Adamson in Paris and Justin Spike in Budapest.
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