Marine Le Pen caused a surprise by announcing her intention to stand as a candidate in the 2027 presidential election during her televised address following her conviction on appeal in the European parliamentary assistants’ case. In doing so, she is making a bold gamble, which will undoubtedly set the tone for a campaign that is already shaping up to be completely out of the ordinary.
On Tuesday, July 7th, the Paris Court of Appeal upheld the conviction of the former president of the Rassemblement National (RN), finding her responsible for a scheme that enabled her political party, between 2009 and 2016, to have parliamentary assistants funded by European funds whilst they were employed on tasks of national interest to the party.
However, the verdict was more lenient than might have been expected: the prison sentence was reduced, and the period of ineligibility was not extended, meaning that, in this specific regard, she is deemed to have already served her sentence. Regaining eligibility was, of course, the first condition she needed to fulfil in order to stand as a candidate. The second condition was that she be exempt from wearing an electronic tag. Le Pen decided to take matters into her own hands to secure this by announcing her intention to appeal to the Court of Cassation, which allows her to suspend the enforcement of the modified prison sentence to which she was subject. Furthermore, she once again benefits from the presumption of innocence whilst awaiting the final judgement.
With this decision, Le Pen has sent a powerful political message: she intends to remain in control of her own destiny and has no intention of allowing the system to dictate her fate. Her supporters have clearly understood the message.
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