Le Pen Barred From French Presidential Run After Embezzlement Ruling

The court decision barred the far-right leader Marine Le Pen from seeking office for five years, jeopardizing her plans for the 2027 election. She can appeal.

Marine Le Pen, head of the National Rally party, at the French Parliament in Paris in January. She was defeated in three successive presidential elections, in 2012, 2017 and 2022.

By Aurelien Breeden and Roger Cohen Reporting from Paris

March 31, 2025Updated 7:19 a.m. ET

Marine Le Pen, the French far-right leader, was found guilty of embezzlement by a criminal court in Paris on Monday and immediately barred from running for public office for five years, jeopardizing her plans to compete in France’s 2027 presidential election.

The verdict was a major blow to the perennial presidential ambitions of Ms. Le Pen, an anti-immigrant, nationalist politician who has already mounted three failed bids. Looking grim and murmuring “incredible,” she walked briskly out of the courtroom before the judges had completed reading her sentence.

She did not address the dozens of camera crews that awaited her outside the courtroom, but she was expected to speak on French television later on Monday evening. She had spoken of her “serenity” before the hearing but there was little evidence of that.

SOURCE: New York Times