French Far-Right Leader Marine Le Pen Barred From Presidential Race

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has been banned from running in the 2027 presidential elections after a Paris court on Monday found her guilty of embezzling European Union funds to finance her National Rally (NR) party’s local operations, Le Monde wrote.

Le Pen – along with other 24 party members – was accused of hiring four fictional assistants when she was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) between 2004 and 2017. In reality, these people were working for her party but were being paid by the European Parliament, the court said.

“There was no personal enrichment … but there was the enrichment of a party,” said Judge Bénédicte de Perthuis, according to Euronews.

Le Pen – who left the courtroom before the judge finished delivering the sentence – was also convicted to four years in prison but will not go to jail; two years of the term are suspended. She will serve the other two years free but with an electronic bracelet.

She also received a $108,000 fine and is banned from running for office for five years.

France’s constitutional court ruled last Friday that elected officials can be barred from office immediately upon conviction for a crime. As a result, the verdict bars Le Pen from running for office, even if she appeals.

The three-time presidential candidate must resign as a councilor for the northern French election district of Pas-de-Calais but will remain a member of parliament, though she cannot run in upcoming legislative elections if parliament is dissolved and new elections are held as a result.

Nine current or former members of parliament from the NR and 12 assistants were also found guilty of concealing a crime and barred from office, while the party was fined $2.16 million.

The court estimated the European Parliament’s total loss at $3.13 million, with Le Pen personally embezzling around $512,000.

Besides the fictitious employment, the court suspects Le Pen of being at the center of an organized and centralized “embezzlement scheme” involving money paid by the EU to her party between 2004 and 2016.

During the trial last fall, Le Pen had denied the very existence of a scheme, saying there was no evidence, and criticized the “lies” spread by former colleagues motivated by “vengeance.”

Le Pen received support from fellow far-right politicians, while Russia commented that more and more “European capitals are going down the path of violating democratic norms,” and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán writing “Je suis Marine” (I am Marine) on X.

RN party leader Jordan Bardella said French democracy was being “executed” with the “unjust” verdict.