Marine Le Pen, the voice of France’s growing right-wing movement, is appealing her conviction in hopes of overturning the restriction on her ability to run for president of France.
Le Pen, the front-runner to replace French President Emmanuel Macron in 2027, was found guilty of embezzlement by a Paris court on Monday. She was restricted from running for political office for five years, which will prevent her from standing in the upcoming elections.
The Paris Court of Appeal announced Tuesday that three appeals were filed, although it did not make clear who filed them. It also said it intends to offer its decision by summer 2026, providing the National Rally party with a glimmer of hope that the ruling could be overturned in time.
“Let’s be clear — I am eliminated, but in reality, it’s millions of French people whose voices have been eliminated,” Le Pen said. “I’m not going to submit to a democratic denial so easily.”
“The system has pulled out the nuclear bomb […] because we’re about to win the election,” Le Pen told National Rally members of Parliament after her conviction. “They’re thinking that everything they’ve put in place hasn’t worked and that maybe we need to move up a gear. So things are clear. We won’t let ourselves be pushed around.”
Le Pen was convicted over her use of funds allocated to pay European Parliament aides to instead remunerate for political work, though the court acknowledged that the mishandling of funds was not done for personal enrichment.
In addition to blocking her political activity for five years, the court sentenced her to four years in prison — two suspended and two to be served under house arrest with an ankle monitor. She was also ordered to pay a €100,000 fine.
Despite not being a political death sentence — the appeal, if successful, will give Le Pen time to mount a comeback over the next two years — the severe and immediate penalties sparked outrage among right-wing groups in Europe and the United States.
Jordan Bardella, National Rally president and Le Pen’s protege, has stood by his mentor, declaring Le Pen “unjustly convicted” and French democracy “executed” by the Paris court.
If Le Pen is successfully blocked from running for president in 2027, 29-year-old Bardella is the obvious choice to run in her place.
Macron, who has reached his term limit and cannot run again, has not yet commented on Le Pen’s conviction. French outlet Le Monde reported that he struggled to hide his astonishment at the verdict when he learned of it during a meeting with environment ministers.
Some pundits and supporters of the National Rally have pushed the idea of a presidential pardon, but Le Pen said she is uninterested in such help.
“No and no again, because a pardon affects the final decision, but the case is not at this stage,” she said, referencing the fact that a pardon can only be issued if an appeal is not filed.
Reportedly, the highest rungs of French leadership feel that the harsh conviction could benefit Le Pen’s party rather than harm it.
French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said he deferred the court’s ruling but clarified that “as a matter of law, any criminal decision with serious consequences should be subject to appeal.”
“If Marine Le Pen cannot run, there is a risk of shock in the public opinion,” he said Sunday, according to French outlet Le Figaro.
Bayrou and his party, the Democratic Movement, were prosecuted under similar embezzlement charges.
Bayrou was acquitted due to insufficient evidence regarding his direct involvement. Several other party members were found guilty but have appealed the decision.
The conviction of the nation’s presidential front-runner has drawn comparisons to the chaos following President Donald Trump‘s criminal convictions ahead of his 2024 victory.
Trump acknowledged the parallels, telling reporters at the White House on Monday that the ruling “sounds very much like this country.”
“That’s a very big deal. I know all about it. And a lot of people thought she wasn’t going to be convicted of anything,” Trump said of Le Pen’s legal woes. “And I don’t know if it means conviction, but she was banned from running for five years, and she was the leading candidate.”
Le Pen’s conviction also drew reaction from populist leaders across Europe, including Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who simply wrote on social media, “Je suis Marine!”
FRANCE DID TO LE PEN WHAT DEMOCRATS TRIED TO DO TO TRUMP
Trump ally Elon Musk highlighted Le Pen on his social media site, X. He accused the French establishment of trying to quash her as a threat.
“When the radical left can’t win via democratic vote, they abuse the legal system to jail their opponents,” Musk said. “This is their standard playbook throughout the world.”