Le Pen cleared to run for president of France
· Toronto Sun
A French court of appeal has upheld Marine Le Pen’s conviction for the misuse of EU funds but shortened her ban on running for office, potentially allowing the right-wing leader to run for president in 2027.
But Le Pen, 57, was also sentenced to a three-year jail term — with two years suspended and one during which she must wear an electronic ankle tag, which could make a run for president logistically difficult. Le Pen must now choose whether or not to run for president under such circumstances.
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Le Pen previously ruled out a run if she was forced to wear an ankle bracelet, but she’s scheduled to do an interview on French television tonight, during which she may discuss her political future.
“If I’m allowed to be a candidate but am effectively prevented from campaigning freely, then you understand that wouldn’t be possible,” she said in an interview last week.
Banned from office
Le Pen has run for president three times, and was banned from holding public office for five years in March last year after she was found guilty of embezzling 1.4 million euros in European Parliament money to hire two high-ranking party members, then known as the National Front and now known as the National Rally, as parliamentary assistants. EU lawmakers are provided funds for expenses and to pay parliamentary assistants, but can’t use them for the betterment of political parties.
Investigators concluded that hires made between 2004 and 2016 weren’t isolated cases but part of a series of “fake jobs.” She was sentenced to a four-year jail term, two years suspended and fined 100,000 euros. She was permitted to serve the other two years at home with an electronic tag. Her party was also fined 2 million euros, with half of that amount suspended. Le Pen at the time called the rulings ” a witch hunt” and a “democratic scandal.”
Rival to Macron
Le Pen came second to President Emmanuel Macron in 2017 and 2022. Before the conviction, she was seen as the likely frontrunner to defeat Macron at the polls in 2027.
Current party leader Jordan Bardella praised his former boss on social media Monday.
“Nothing can justify Marine Le Pen being excluded from the choice of the French people and prevented from presenting herself before them,” he wrote.