Le Pen And The Élysées Race

Le Pen has reopened her chance to become France’s first female president. On July 7, the leader of the far-right National Rally party upheld the Paris Court of Appeal’s ruling in her case involving 
misappropriation of public funds, which could have prevented her from running for president in 2027. The judges upheld the conviction but reduced the sentence, effectively making the politician eligible. 
Le Pen then released her statement: “I will be a presidential candidate ,” she announced on television, perhaps shelving the possibility of Jordan Bardella’s candidacy and saying she intends to appeal to the Supreme Court to have her sentence suspended and be able to campaign without an electronic bracelet. The politician said she was “happy that the French have been given their say again” and now awaits the Élysée election campaign, where the National Rally is leading in the polls.

Who is Marine Le Pen?

Born on August 5, 1968, in Neuilly-sur-Seine (France), Marine Le Pen, born Marion Anne Perrine, is one of the most well-known and powerful political figures in France in recent decades. Her connection to politics is intertwined with her family history, as Le Pen is the daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the Front National party (which later became the current Rassemblement National). Her father was the face of the French far-right in the 20th century, and she took over his leadership, leading the party into the contemporary world. She entered politics at 18 and succeeded in transforming a niche movement into France’s leading party by consensus, normalizing her father’s more racist and extremist positions while maintaining her far-right positions against immigration, against the civil rights of LGBT+ people, and strongly criticizing the European Union, as well as in favor of the nationalist “French first” policy and the traditional family.

Le Pen has already run for president three times, in 2012, 2017, and 2022. The last time, the margin was very narrow, with 41% of the vote against Macron in the runoff. In the next presidential election, the current president will necessarily be at the end of his term, and therefore the path seems clear for the far right to reach the Elysée Palace with a historic breakthrough. Marine Le Pen’s candidacy remained in doubt until this week because the politician was convicted in the first instance for misappropriating European Parliament funds between 2004 and 2016. The judges found that European funds intended for the European Parliament were being diverted to the Rassemblement National and people who did not hold parliamentary functions. Now the Court of Appeal has upheld the sentence, but reduced it, making Marine Le Pen eligible again.

Eligibility

The judges of the Paris Court of Appeal reduced the sentence to three years in prison, two of which are suspended and one to be served with an electronic tag. The period of ineligibility, however, has been increased from the five years set by the first instance court to 45 months, 30 of which are suspended and 15 have already been served. For this reason, Le Pen has announced her intention to run for president in 2027 and intends to appeal to the Supreme Court of Cassation to suspend the remaining sentence.

The politician remains convinced of her innocence: “I want to get to the bottom of this by any means possible,” she said, explaining the reasons for the third-instance trial. Now the election campaign awaits her, while the chance to run for her heir, Jordan Bardella, the very young leader of the National Rally, has faded. Le Pen has assured that, should she win the election, she will nominate him as prime minister: “We will be a formidable ticket,” she declared, “he will be a prime minister full of energy; together we can finally change things in France.”