Le Pen can no longer run in elections with immediate effect

dpa Le Pen can no longer run in elections with immediate effect 27 million • 2 minutes reading time The guilty verdict most likely blocks Le Pen's ability to run in the 2027 presidential election The right-wing nationalist French politician Marine Le Pen is unlikely to be able to run in the 2027 presidential election. Following a guilty verdict for embezzlement of funds by sham employment of staff in the European Parliament, the court in Paris imposed a temporary ineligibility for political office with immediate effect. Le Pen had always maintained her innocence in the embezzlement of EU funds scandal. The verdict can be appealed. However, it is generally considered unlikely that an appeal would lead to a quick outcome. Even before the presiding judge announced the full verdict and sentence against Le Pen, the politician left the courtroom. She also faces imprisonment and a fine. The outcome of the trial is a disaster for the right-wing party and Le Pen's political ambitions. The temporary loss of the right to stand for election is a common punishment in France when politicians are convicted of corruption and breach of trust. Nevertheless, it is considered sensitive due to Le Pen's high popularity – even moderate politicians had expressed concerns, as it could fuel the narrative that the verdict was politically motivated to prevent Le Pen from becoming president. Le Pen's appeal expected "It is my political death that is being demanded, with provisional execution, and that, I believe, has been the goal of this operation from the outset," Le Pen said in response to the prosecution's demand that her ineligibility for political office be temporarily and immediately implemented before the verdict becomes final. Regardless, Le Pen is expected to appeal the verdict, which will be followed by a long legal process. However, Le Pen can continue to sit as a member of parliament, where she is the group leader, until the end of the legislative period. The central allegation in the trial was that Le Pen's party, the Rassemblement National, received money from the European Parliament for parliamentary assistants who, in fact, worked partially or entirely for the party. The affair had burdened Le Pen and her party for years. The debacle in court comes at an inopportune moment for the right-wing nationalist party in France, as it has been steadily gaining ground for some time and is now as strongly represented in parliament as ever. Marine Le Pen renamed the right-wing extremist National Front, founded by her recently deceased father, Jean-Marie, the Rassemblement National in 2018 and refrained from overly radical positions in order to make it electable among broader sections of the population. The previous plan had been that if Le Pen won the presidential election and her party won the subsequent parliamentary election, RN leader Jordan Bardella (29) would have become prime minister. Whether Bardella now intends to run for president is not yet known. Le Pen consistently denied the allegations In the scandal surrounding the possible sham employment of EU staff, Le Pen consistently denied the allegations. "I don't feel I have committed the slightest irregularity, the slightest illegality," she said during the trial. Eight other members of her party in the European Parliament, as well as 12 parliamentary assistants, were found guilty along with her. The possible sham employment of assistants by several French MEPs was at issue.