PARIS (Reuters) – French far-right leader Marine Le Pen was handed a five-year ban from holding public office after being convicted of misappropriation of funds by a court in France, almost certainly preventing her run for president in 2027.
The decision is a devastating blow for Le Pen, head of the National Rally (RN) party that is leading polls for the 2027 presidential race. She had previously stated this would be her fourth and final attempt at the French presidency.
Here are political reactions from France and other parts of the world to the sentence.
JORDAN BARDELLA, NATIONAL RALLY PRESIDENT
“Today it is not only Marine Le Pen who was unjustly condemned: It was French democracy that was killed.”
ERIC CIOTTI, FORMER PRESIDENT OF CENTRE-RIGHT REPUBLICANS
“The democratic destiny of our nation confiscated by an outrageous judicial cabal. The favoured candidate in the presidential election prevented from running. This is not a simple dysfunction. It is a system to capture power that systematically throws aside any candidate that is too far on the right and who has a chance of winning.”
ERIC ZEMMOUR, PRESIDENT OF FAR-RIGHT RECONQUEST PARTY
“It is not for judges to decide who the people must vote for. Whatever our disagreements, Marine Le Pen is legitimate to present herself for the vote.”
MATTEO SALVINI, ITALY’S FAR-RIGHT DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER:
“People who are afraid of the judgment of the voters are often reassured by the judgment of the courts. In Paris they have condemned Marine Le Pen and would like to exclude her from political life – an ugly film that we are also seeing in other countries such as Romania. The ruling against Marine Le Pen is a declaration of war by Brussels, at a time when the warlike impulses of Von der Leyen and Macron are frightening. We will not be intimidated, we will not stop: full steam ahead my friend!”
DMITRY PESKOV, KREMLIN SPOKESMAN
“Well, indeed, more and more European capitals are going down the path of trampling over democratic norms. Of course, we do not want to interfere in France’s internal affairs, we have never done so, and this is France’s internal affair. But in general, our observations of European capitals show that they are not at all reluctant to go beyond democracy during the political process.”
VIKTOR ORBAN, HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER
“I am Marine!”
(Reporting by Makini Brice and Gianluca Lo Nostro; additional reporting by Moscow Newsroom and Crispian Balmer in Rome; editing by Mark Heinrich)
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