Court bars conservative French leader from seeking office

A French court on Monday found the former leader of the country’s capitalist, conservative National Rally party Marine Le Pen guilty of embezzlement. The court also convicted eight other current or former members of her party and 12 individuals who served as parliamentary aides for Le Pen. As a result of the ruling, Le Pen is prohibited from running for public office for five years. The ruling will end her expected 2027 presidential run unless she wins an appeal. The judge gave her a four-year sentence, of which two years will be served under home detention and two of which will suspended, according to Reuters. Le Pen also received a $108,200 fine. President of the National Rally Jordan Bardella said Le Pen was unjustly condemned and called the conviction an attack on French democracy.

How was Le Pen charged with wrongdoing? The politician was accused of using money meant for European Union parliamentary aides to pay staff at the National Rally party from 2004 to 2016, according to local media. Le Pen served as a member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2017. French authorities in 2017 launched an investigation into her alleged misuse of funds while she was serving on the European Parliament. The European Anti-Fraud Office claimed she had misspent about $5 million.

Why is this so significant? Le Pen had planned to challenge French President Emmanuel Macron in the upcoming presidential election. She was the runner-up to Macron in both the 2017 and 2022 elections. The conservative party has seen growing support in recent years and it secured 142 parliamentary seats in the election last summer.

Dig deeper: Read Jenny Lind Schmitt’s report in WORLD Magazine about how the elections last summer may have been an attempt to slow a right-wing surge.