French far-right leader Marine Le Pen barred from seeking office for 5 years, a political earthquake

PARIS (news agencies) — A French court on Monday convicted Marine Le Pen of embezzlement and barred her from seeking public office for five years — a hammer blow to the far-right leader’s presidential hopes and an earthquake for French politics.

Le Pen’s lawyer said she would appeal the verdict, but she will remain ineligible while she does and so could be ruled out of the 2027 presidential race. She was also sentenced to four years’ imprisonment, with two to be served under house arrest and two suspended.

The court ruling was a political as well as a judicial temblor for France, hobbling one of the leading contenders to succeed President Emmanuel Macron at the end of his second and final term. So broad were the political implications that even some of Le Pen’s opponents said the Paris court had gone too far.

But it’s too early to say how the case will affect voters. The potential elimination of Le Pen could fire up diehard supporters, just as U.S. President’s Donald Trump’s legal problems motivated some of his. But it could also leave her on the sidelines, deflating what had been her upward trajectory.

Le Pen herself was not around to hear the chief judge pronounce the sentence that threw her career into a tailspin. By then, she had already strode out of the courtroom after the judge first indicated that the 56-year-old would be barred from office, without saying straight away for how long.

Although Le Pen did not immediately comment, her supporters quickly expressed disapproval. Jordan Bardella, her 29-year-old protégé who could replace her on the ballot in 2027 if she cannot run, said on X that Le Pen was “being unjustly condemned” and that French democracy was “being executed.”

Hungary’s populist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, quickly took to social media to express his support, posting “Je suis Marine!” — I am Marine — on X.

Among political opponents of Le Pen who expressed unease was conservative lawmaker Laurent Wauquiez, who said the verdict put “a very heavy weight on our democracy.”