Marine Le Pen criticized a "political decision" and vowed to find "a path" to the next presidential election after a court on Monday, March 31, convicted her of embezzlement and banned her from running in elections for five years. The three-time presidential candidate will appeal the decision "as fast as possible," saying it was designed "to prevent me from being elected in the presidential election" because the ban on elections, which is effective immediately, will stand even during the appeal proceedings, which are not certain of ending before the 2027 vote.
"The rule of law was totally violated," Le Pen said in a television interview on the evening news, in her first comments after the verdict, proclaiming, "I am innocent." She accused the court of "obeying an instruction, an order, a climate," saying the judges "put in place practices that we thought were limited to authoritarian regimes."
Le Pen was convicted over a scheme to take advantage of European Parliament expenses to employ assistants who were actually working for her far-right party in France. Twenty-four people, including Le Pen, were convicted, all of them RN party officials or assistants. The court estimated the scheme they were implicated in was worth €2.9 million. The other officials were also banned from running for office.
Le Pen was also handed a four-year prison sentence, including two years suspended and the other two to be served at home with an electronic bracelet, and a €100,000 fine. The appeal suspends both penalties, contrary to the electoral ban.
"When you appeal, the appeal suspends" the sentence, Le Pen argued. But a 2016 law states that bans on being elected are effective immediately, including if they appeal, in cases where holders of elected offices are convicted of misconduct.
Le Pen left the courtroom before the judge announced the prison sentence, and a crisis meeting was convened at her party's Paris headquarters. In the likely event that Le Pen is unable to run in 2027, her back-up plan is her 29-year-old protégé and Rassemblement National party leader Jordan Bardella, who is not under investigation in the case.
"Jordan Bardella is a tremendous asset for the movement and I've been saying this for a long time," Le Pen said on Monday evening, asked about a plan B if her ban from running for office is confirmed. "I hope we won't have to use this asset any sooner than is necessary," she added.
Bardella called the verdict "a democratic scandal" and urged a peaceful "mobilization" from supporters to show "that the will of the people is stronger."