On Monday, a French court convicted far-right leader Marine Le Pen over an alleged embezzlement scheme. The conviction was for she and members of her National Rally (RN) party misused €3 million ($3.25 million) in European Parliament funds meant for parliamentary assistants. According to prosecutors the money was used to pay France-based party staff between 2004 and 2016, which violates EU rules.
As the court convicted her in the case, Le Pen said her “political death” is at stake. Le Pen, 56, denies wrongdoing and called the case a political attack aimed at ending her career. Le Pen said, “There are 11 million people who voted for the movement I represent.” She added, a verdict against her would mean “potentially millions of French people seeing themselves deprived of their candidate in the election.”
The judge has not yet issued a sentence. Prosecutors have called for a five-year suspended prison sentence, a €300,000 ($324,000) fine and a five-year ban on holding public office— a move that would prevent her from running in the next presidential election if upheld. The decision could prevent her from running in the 2027 presidential election. Le Pen is a leading contender in the upcoming election. If appealed, It would trigger a retrial, just before the elections.
The trial is a judicial overreach, according to Le Pen’s party, echoing remarks made by US President Donald Trump over his own legal issues.
“With provisional execution, the judges have the power of life or death over our movement,” she stated. “But I don’t think they’ll go that far.”
Concerns about courts determining who is eligible to run for office have been voiced by several of her opponents, such as Prime Minister Francois Bayrou.
An acquittal would help Le Pen’s efforts to mainstream the National Rally and remove the racist and antisemitic taint associated with its previous form, the National Front.
Her father once ran the RN, which is currently the largest single party in France’s parliament. If she is disqualified, RN president Jordan Bardella, 29, is poised to replace her. He is not likely to match her electoral appeal.
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Trend of putting Right wing leaders on trial
It has become a trend in western countries where left leaning parties, especially those who claim to be liberal put on trail emerging leaders, especially those opposed to their ideology. It has happened with Trump during the Democrat rule, It is now happening with Le Pen in France after her party secured the largest vote share.
In Germany, before the election, Alternative for Germany (AfD) was also put under the lens by the Olaf Scholz liberal government due to its increasing popularity. In Romania, Far-right populist Calin Georgescu, who won the first round of last year’s presidential election, has been detained by police and is facing criminal proceedings on a series of charges. Even popular Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has not been spared as she was recently placed under judicial investigation over Italy’s release of a Libyan citizen who had been wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC), despite the move was in favour of Italian national interests.
The Canadian government under Justin Trudeau has run a similar narrative against Pierre Poilievre branding the Conservative party leader as an Indian agent. The claims had no real evidence or substance behind them, however it seems all the Liberal government was looking to do was to run down and malign the reputation of its primary opponent.
This seems to a global narrative as the Global liberal lobby continues to spread an incessant agenda against Right wing leaders, regardless whether in Government or in opposition. It seems the left have come up with a particular modus operandi to target and eliminate opposition parties, cutting down the popular leaders challenging their rule. First the left leaning parties attempt to disqualify them, if somehow the popular Right wing leader still manages to win they then use legal and other means to malign their leadership. Marin Le Pen is latest in this long list, it seems Macron too is running a similar narrative to run down his primary opponent, as the so called ‘Western democracy’ now looks nothing more than a sham.
