Marine Le Pen prevented from running for president in 2027?

Marine Le Pen prevented from running for president in 2027

The indictment in the affair of the assistants of RN MEPs (ex-FN) is causing a lot of noise in France. Marine Le Pen, suspected of embezzlement of public funds, could be banned from running in the next presidential election. In addition to two years in prison, five years of ineligibility are also required by the prosecution against the president of the National Rally.

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The risk for Marine Le Pen is real. If, at the start of next year, the trial judges follow the prosecution’s requisitions to the letter – two years in prison, subject to change and five years of ineligibility – she would not be able to compete for a fourth presidential election in a row. There would be what we call in law a “ provisional execution “, that is to say the impossibility of suspending the sentence pronounced even by appealing. In this case, five years without being able to stand for election, unless there is a new, more favorable ruling. And again, it would have to be delivered before the 2027 presidential election.

“Preventing the presidential favorite from running would not be worthy of a great democracy like France,” declared, a little worried, the deputy RN Thomas Menagé. The far-right elected official, however, says he is convinced that the case against the RN is “wobbly”. According to him, “ there was no personal enrichment » from Marine Le Pen. The president of the RN is accused of having orchestrated, as party leader, a system in which the assistants of MEPs financed by the EU were mainly used for activities linked to the RN, to the detriment of their parliamentary mission. in Strasbourg.

Also readFrance: convertible prison and ineligibility required against Marine Le Pen

A divided political class

The possible absence of candidate Le Pen in 2027 worries some, including the most resolute adversaries. The former Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, wrote this Wednesday on X: “ Fighting Marine Le Pen takes place at the polls, not elsewhere […] let’s avoid widening the gap between citizens and elites ».

Among the MoDem, which has also been suspected of embezzlement of public funds via its elected representatives in the European Parliament, some share this position. “I think she should not be condemned. It’s not fair and one might think that there is a Republic of judges.” declared Richard Ramos, a centrist MP who is known for very head-on jousts with the far-right in the hemicycle.

On the left, this outcry was not followed at all, on the contrary. “ If Marine Le Pen cannot run, it is because she will have embezzled hundreds of thousands of euros of public money and will have been convicted for it. It is one of the fundamental principles of our Republic, the same law for all, powerful or miserable. “, has estimated the PS deputy Arthur Delaporte. He is joined by right-wing personalities like Xavier Bertrand, LR president of the Hauts-de-France region and whose accession to Matignon this summer had been largely prevented by Marine Le Pen.

The judges must render their decision during the first quarter of 2025. One of the big questions to be decided: are the facts accused of the RN sufficiently serious to prevent their spokesperson, qualified twice in the second round of the presidential election, and weighing nearly 11 million votes, to run for office? In any case, the consequences will be serious.

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