 "RN party's President Jordan Bardella (R) applauds as President of Rassemblement National parliamentary group Marine Le Pen gestures after delivering a speech during a rally in her support, after she was convicted of a fake jobs scheme at the EU parliament, in Paris on April 6, 2025. Image- AFP")
Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s far-right National Rally (RN), declared on Sunday that she would continue her political fight despite a recent conviction for embezzlement that bars her from running in future elections. She denounced the verdict as a “political decision.”
Last week, a Paris court found Le Pen and more than 20 RN party members guilty of misusing European Union funds. The ruling includes a ban on her participation in elections, effectively blocking her from contesting the 2027 presidential race unless she successfully appeals the decision within the next 18 months.
“I won’t give up,” Le Pen told members of her National Rally party and supporters, who packed the Place Vauban, with the glittering golden dome of the Hotel National des Invalides, one of the French capital’s best-known landmarks, in the background.
She denounced a “witch hunt” against her party as supporters waved French flags and chanted “Marine! Marine!”
Le Pen supporters waved French flags and chanted ”we will win” as they gathered in central Paris on Sunday afternoon for a peaceful protest, which could give an indication of how much popular backing there is for her accusations that prosecutors in the case sought her ”political death”.
Le Pen still ahead, poll shows
The court’s ruling was a massive blow for Le Pen, 56. The National Rally chief is one of the most prominent figures of the European far right, and a front-runner in polls for France’s 2027 election.
Le Pen has appealed the court’s decision, and she vowed on Sunday to use all the tools and legal means to be able to run in 2027. The court has said it will issue a ruling on the appeal in the summer of 2026.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsAn opinion poll by Elabe on Saturday showed Le Pen was still favourite to win the first round of the presidential vote with between 32% and 36% support, ahead of former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who was polled at between 20.5% and 24%.
But attacks by Le Pen and her allies over the ”tyranny of judges” have not gained traction, even among some of her supporters, particularly after the lead judge in her case was put under police protection following death threats.
Most French people do not see any problem with the court’s decision.
Some 65% of respondents said they were ”not shocked” by the verdict and 54% said Le Pen was treated like any other defendant, according to an Odoxa poll.
Across the city, at Place de la Republique, leftist party supporters flocked to a counter-demonstration to protest Le Pen’s attacks on the French state.
‘Follow Martin Luther King’
On Sunday, ahead of the rally, Le Pen urged her supporters to take inspiration from America’s iconic advocate of nonviolence in the fight for equal rights for black Americans.
“We will follow the example of Martin Luther King, who defended civil rights,” she told members of Italy’s hard-right League party, who were meeting in Florence, via video-link.
“It is the civil rights of the French people that are being called into question today,” she added.
Le Pen has also compared herself to Alexei Navalny, Russia’s late opposition leader who died in an Arctic prison in 2024 after being jailed under President Vladimir Putin.
Le Pen has worked to turn the party into an electable force and rid it of the legacy of her father, its co-founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, who died in January and was frequently accused of racism.
With inputs from agencies