French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has gone on the offensive to try to save her political career, emulating populist leaders from the US to Romania by attacking what she calls the “politicisation” of judges and the “system” seeking to eliminate her.
Le Pen was sentenced on Monday to an immediate ban on standing for election for five years, which would make it impossible for her to run for president in 2027 unless the ban is overturned in an appeal before then.
But she came out swinging after the verdict that she and her Rassemblement National party embezzled €4.4mn of EU parliament funds earmarked for staff in Brussels who were in reality working for her party in France.
“The system took out the nuclear bomb and if they did so, it is obviously because we are on the verge of winning power,” she said on Tuesday. “We will not give up . . . We will not allow the French people to have the presidential election stolen from them.”
Le Pen’s more combative turn breaks with her long-held strategy of seeking to “detoxify” the movement her father Jean-Marie Le Pen started more than 50 years ago in order to overcome its racist and xenophobic past.
The approach has allowed her to steadily increase the RN’s electorate to win over new types of supporters, including older and wealthier voters. Helped by what Le Pen called “the necktie strategy” — her order to MPs to dress soberly — the RN won an unprecedented 123 seats in the National Assembly in last year’s snap election, although it fell far short of its goal to win a majority and the post of prime minister.
As Le Pen fights for her political life, she appears to have set the party on a different, more confrontational path on which she is directly challenging the judiciary and undermining checks and balances. RN leaders are also pointing to other things they say show France to be an ailing democracy, such as the broadcast regulator’s recent ban on the C8 television channel, owned by conservative billionaire Vincent Bolloré.
But RN officials say they will not go down the same path as US President Donald Trump, betting that such an aggressive approach would turn off the swing voters they need to win a two-round presidential election.
“We’re not going to do a Capitol [riot]. We’re going to follow Martin Luther King,” said Philippe Olivier, a senior figure in the RN and Le Pen’s brother-in-law, in a reference to the violent uprising on January 6 2021 when Trump supporters sought to overturn Joe Biden’s election win.
“Jean-Marie Le Pen would have reacted like Trump, but Marine Le Pen is not her father, nor is she like Trump. We’re going to do this differently.”
The appeals court of Paris on Tuesday threw Le Pen a potential lifeline by saying it would aim to have the appeal decided during the summer of 2026, which would allow ample time before the scheduled presidential campaign.
Early in her political career, Le Pen was a fervent advocate of strict punishments for politicians convicted of crimes, including lifetime bans. She has also pledged to uphold the institutions of the Fifth Republic, although rival politicians are wondering if she may abandon her restraint. If she wants to stoke chaos, she could vote with the left to bring down the government as she did in December.
The RN plans to take more measured action for now, although the rhetoric remains heated.
Jordan Bardella, Le Pen’s 29-year-old lieutenant who she has lined up as her successor, condemned “the tyranny of judges” and said “French democracy had been executed”.
But in an interview on CNews on Tuesday morning, he toned things down a bit. “I believe that democracy is the violence of words, never physical violence,” Bardella said. “I believe that today, the French people must be outraged, and I say to them: Rise up! Be outraged!”
The RN has called for a “peaceful mass mobilisation” and will hold a rally in support of Le Pen in Paris on Sunday. Officials also said that there was a plan to fan out across the country this weekend to talk to voters and hand out flyers. The RN has also launched a petition to rally supporters titled: “Save democracy, Support Marine!”
Critics say the party and Le Pen herself are playing with fire because their criticism of the justice system amounts to a challenge to the rule of law and the legitimacy of the courts to apply laws promulgated by parliament. The judges presiding over the case have received serious threats, according to the justice ministry. Police patrolled the home in Paris of the chief judge immediately after the verdict.
Rémy Heitz, the chief prosecutor at France’s highest court of appeal, said such threats were grave, and he defended the court. “The decision is not political, it’s a legal ruling rendered by three independent and impartial judges,” he said. “The threats against judges are totally inadmissible in a democracy.”
Prime minister François Bayrou told the National Assembly on Tuesday that it was not true that the judiciary was undermining French democracy. But he added that “as a citizen” he questioned whether immediate bans from standing for elections before appeals were exhausted were appropriate.
“The law under which the judges made their decision was passed by parliament . . . It is parliament that will decide whether or not that law should be amended,” Bayrou said. He and his centrist party are facing a second trial on a fake contracts case similar to Le Pen’s, after prosecutors appealed the first verdict.
Le Pen’s potential exclusion to succeed President Emmanuel Macron would throw open the race since she was seen as very likely to make the run-off given her loyal base of about one-third of voters. After three unsuccessful bids, it may be the 56-year-old politician’s last chance to convince the public she can govern.
Legal travails, including bans, for politicians are not new in France, and those affected have also complained about judges. Former president Nicolas Sarkozy has accused the court of over-reach and harassment in his ongoing trial for allegedly taking illegal campaign contributions from Libya.
François Fillon, rightwing former prime minister, lost his lead ahead of the May 2017 presidential election when police placed him under official investigation in March of that year for employing his wife in a fake job as a parliamentary assistant. His support plummeted. Macron took the Elysée palace.
Leaders from the far right and populist governments globally, including Trump, rallied behind Le Pen and attacked the “radical left” for supposedly seeking to eliminate rivals via the judicial system. “This is a very big deal,” Trump said on Monday of Le Pen’s ban. He drew a parallel between the series of legal cases against him, most of which were abandoned upon his re-election. “That sounds like this country. It sounds very much like this country.”
In France, it remains to be seen whether Le Pen’s combative strategy will pay off. She has declined, for now, to pass the mantle to Bardella and chosen to fight on despite the slim chance that she will prevail on appeal before the 2027 campaign.
A snap poll of about 1,000 people conducted on Monday by research and consultancy group Elabe showed that 57 per cent of those asked said the verdict against Le Pen was normal given the allegations against her. In contrast, 89 per cent of RN voters responded that it was unjust, while majorities voting for other parties thought it was just. Some 68 per cent also said the immediacy of the ban before appeals were exhausted was fair.
Elabe’s Bernard Sananes questioned whether the RN’s communication strategy after the trial was the right one. “For now the RN is not mobilising many people outside their own base. Trying the tactics of Trump may not be the best way to go in France,” he said.
Additional reporting by Adrienne Klasa; data visualisation by Martin Stabe
