Le Pen falls for embezzlement – stops her from the presidential election

Marine Le Pen is sentenced to five years of suspension from running for public office, with immediate effect. This primarily means that she cannot seek the support of the people to become France’s next president in 2027 election.

The prosecutor’s side also had Request for five years in prison for her, but the court sets the detention to two years and two more with a foot buoy in the home. Marine Le Pen has denied a crime and described the legal process as a way to stop her from taking the Élysé Palace – she left the courtroom before the verdict was announced.

In December 2023, the former national collection leader was suspected that for years have cheated on salaries for EU assistants who actually performed other tasks. A total of EUR 2.9 million, the state must have lost, according to the judgment, which also states that she will be fined EUR 100,000, corresponding to almost SEK 1.1 million.

In the 2022 presidential election received Le Pen almost 24 percent and went to the second round where she lost to sitting Emmanuel Macron, but attracted as much as 41.45 percent of the vote, which was 7.55 percentage points more than 2017. Le Pen said outside the courtroom that party -headed Jordan Bardella might as well set up in 2027.

« Today, it is not only Marine Le Pen who is unfairly convicted: it is the French democracy that is executed, » writes Jordan Bardella on X about the judgment where 23 of the co-defendants are sentenced to at least six months in prison and several receive two years of conditional non-elective-only one was acquitted.

National collection is fined Also with EUR 2 million, half of which are already seized. The party can, like the defendants in the case, appeal and if the appellation court would be able to raise the case next year, there is a hypothetical possibility for Marine Le Pen to still candidate.

Marine Le Pen and National Collection have also received support from, among others, Viktor Orbán, the Kremlin and Italy’s right -wing populist Lega. « Je Suis Marine! », Writes the Hungarian Prime Minister at X; Russian spokesman Dimitrij Peskov describes the judgment as « a violation of democratic norms »; Matteo Salvini writes in social media that it is « a declaration of war from Brussels side » and calls for Le Pen with the words « full speed ahead my friend! ».