Overview
- Marine Le Pen is currently barred from public office for five years after a conviction over diverting more than €3 million in European Parliament funds, alongside a four-year prison sentence.
- Her appeal pivots to technical and proportionality arguments as her lawyers seek to avoid a politicized defense and persuade the court on legal grounds.
- France’s appeals process allows a full rehearing and new evidence, and the court has accelerated the case to deliver a ruling in summer 2026 while the ban remains in effect under provisional execution.
- National Rally positions Jordan Bardella as its fallback nominee, with recent Ipsos and Odoxa polling showing him surpassing Le Pen and, in one survey, winning both presidential rounds.
- Prosecutors said party staff were falsely paid as parliamentary assistants, citing evidence that some did little or no EU work, including an assistant who asked to be introduced to the MEP he supposedly served.