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A FRENCH COURT today threw Marine Le Pen’s 2027 bid for president into severe doubt, handing her a five-year ban on running for office after convicting her over a fake jobs scheme.
Le Pen is the parliamentary party leader of the far-right National Rally and knew that her best chance to win the French presidency would come in 2027.
With President Emmanuel Macron unable to stand again, Le Pen believed she had the momentum to finally take the French presidency in 2027 on the back of public concern over immigration and the cost of living.
A presidential election win in 2027 for Le Pen would see her join a growing number of far-right leaders around the world, ranging from Giorgia Meloni in Italy to Hungary’s Viktor Orban.
But those political aspirations now seem to be in tatters following today’s ruling, which has also given her a four-year prison term.
However, Le Pen will not go to jail – two years of the term are suspended and the other two to be served outside jail with an electronic bracelet.
Besides Le Pen, her party was also in the dock.
A total of 24 people were convicted, including nine former members of the European Parliament and their 12 parliamentary assistants.
It’s over a scheme where the National Rally party took advantage of European Parliament expenses to employ party members as parliamentary assistants.
The twelve assistants were also convicted of concealing a crime, with the court estimating the scheme was worth €2.9m.
Prosecutors said the National Rally sought to ease pressure on the party’s own finances by using all of the €21,000 monthly allowances to which MEPs were entitled to pay “fictitious” parliamentary assistants, who actually worked for the party.
They described the scam as unprecedented, both in terms of its duration, from 2004 to 2016, and its scope, with an estimated €4.5 m in losses.
And prosecutors said its “organised” nature was “strengthened” when Le Pen took over as party leader in 2011.
Prosecutors last year asked that Le Pen be given five years in prison – with three suspended and the two years potentially served outside of jail with a bracelet – a €300,000 fine and a five-year ban on holding office.
And to the surprise of observers, prosecutors made the unusual request for the ban on holding office to come into force even pending an appeal, a process that might take years.
This is something the judge allowed and the sanction on running for office will come into force with immediate effect even if an appeal is lodged.
Le Pen had believed that any appeal would have protected her political career regardless of what happened.
“I think the prosecutor’s intention is to deprive the French people of the ability to vote for those they wish,” a shocked Le Pen said after the prosecutors’ demands were announced, accusing them of seeking “my political death”.
Le Pen can still appeal the entire verdict, including the ban on standing for office, in a case that would normally take around a year to be heard by the court of appeal.
Were that appeal rejected she could go to France’s Court of Cassation, but in such a complex case, timings could drag out.
With President Emmanuel Macron unable to stand again, it is far from clear who the strongest candidate will be from the centre and traditional right to succeed him.
One possible hopeful, powerful Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin, has expressed discomfort at the prospect of his potential rival being disqualified.
It would be “profoundly shocking” if Le Pen could not stand, he said in November while still a backbencher.
Meanwhile, waiting in the wings is Le Pen’s protege and National Rally party leader Jordan Bardella, aged just 29, who is not under investigation in the case.
But there are doubts even within the party whether he has the experience for a presidential campaign.
- © AFP 2025 and with additional reporting from Diarmuid Pepper
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