Marine Le Pen banned from running for office after embezzlement conviction

Marine Le Pen, the figurehead of the French far-right has been barred from running for office for five years after a Parisian criminal court found her guilty of embezzlement of public funds on Monday, effectively ending her bid for the French presidency in the 2027 elections.

Her sentence also includes four years in prison, with two suspended and two served with an ankle tag rather than in custody, and a fine of 100,000 euros (about £84,000).

The nationalist leader has long denied culpability in the case against her party, the National Rally, which was accused of illegally using millions of euros in funding from the European Parliament for domestic party expenses between 2004 and 2016.

Le Pen, 56, is expected to appeal the verdict, which also prosecuted eight other former National Rally MEPs. The prison penalty and fine will not be applied until Le Pen's appeals are exhausted (should she choose to exercise them), but her ineligibility for public office is effective immediately.

This decision means that, barring a successful appeal, Le Pen to enter the presidential race despite her status as a narrow favourite according to the polls.

The former leader of the far-right party, which her father Jean-Marie Le Pen (a noted Holocaust denier) founded in 1972, left the courtroom in indignation before the full extent of her sentence was read out.

Le Pen has been the object of both intense admiration and contempt in France for her staunch anti-immigration views and what many see as the promotion of xenophobia and antisemitism. But the party has been increasingly popular in France; in June last year, the National Rally won the European Parliament elections in a landslide with 31.4 per cent of the votes.

Despite Le Pen’s controversial position, her sentencing has caused outrage among the French right who claim it will trigger a democratic crisis.

In response to the news, Jordan Bardella, who succeeded Le Pen as party leader, said on X this morning: “Today, it is not only Marine Le Pen who is being unjustly condemned: it is French democracy that is being executed.”

Le Pen has also attracted support from right-wing politicians across the EU in the wake of the verdict.

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban tweeted “Je suis Marine [I am Marine]”, echoing the “Je suis Charlie” slogan popularised in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo terror attack in 2015.

Likewise, Italy’s deputy PM Matteo Salvini called the ruling a “declaration of war” by Brussels, while Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders said he was “shocked” by the decision.