Explainer-Marine Le Pen convicted of graft, faces ban on running for French presidency

By Juliette Jabkhiro and Elizabeth Pineau

PARIS (Reuters) -French far-right leader Marine Le Pen was convicted of embezzlement on Monday and handed a five-year ban from public office, a verdict that bars her from running in the 2027 presidential race unless she successfully appeals the judgment.

The judge also gave Le Pen a four-year prison sentence - of which two years are suspended and the rest served under home detention - and a 100,000 euro fine. She is almost certain to appeal, and neither of those penalties would be applied until her appeals are exhausted.

How did we get here? And what is at stake?

WHAT WAS LE PEN ACCUSED OF?

Le Pen, her National Rally party (RN) and some two dozen party figures were accused by prosecutors of diverting over 4.1 million euros ($4.44 million) of European Parliament funds to pay staff working for the party in France.

The defendants said the money was used legitimately and that the allegations incorporated too narrow a definition of what a parliamentary assistant does.

Judge Benedicte de Perthuis ruled that Le Pen, along with eight other people who were EU lawmakers at the time and 12 parliamentary assistants, were guilty of embezzling EU funds. The defendants were not accused of pocketing the money, but rather of using EU funds to the benefit of their party.

The court later sentenced Le Pen to a jail sentence of four years, suspended for two years. She would spend the two-year sentence in home detention, not behind bars. It also fined the RF two million euros ($2.16 million), half of which was suspended.

WHAT DOES THE VERDICT MEAN FOR LE PEN'S PRESIDENTIAL HOPES?

The verdict delivers a massive blow to Le Pen, a three-time presidential contender who has previously said the 2027 vote would be her final tilt at top office.

Polls have shown Le Pen to be a frontrunner in the race after she successfully moved her party towards the mainstream. The RN is the biggest single party in parliament thanks to broadened support amongst younger and blue-collar voters. 

Prosecutors had asked judges to impose an immediate five-year ban on Le Pen regardless of any appeal, via a so-called "provisional execution" measure.

Typically in most cases in France, sentences are not applied until any appeals process has run its course. However, if judges apply a provisional execution - as they have now done - the sentence begins immediately.

The provisional execution ban will not see Le Pen removed from her seat in parliament until her mandate ends, though it will prevent her from running in any fresh electoral contest. The five-year provisional execution ban will block her 2027 run.

HAS THE CONVICTION KILLED LE PEN'S PRESIDENTIAL HOPES?

Not necessarily. Le Pen's best hope of running will rest on the sentence being overturned on appeal before the 2027 election. The appeals process in France can take months or even years.

WHAT HAVE LE PEN AND OTHERS SAID OF THE TRIAL?

Le Pen has accused the prosecutors of seeking her "political death", arguing the provisional execution request was "completely disproportionate". She and her allies allege a witch-hunt to keep the RN out of power, echoing claims made by U.S. President Donald Trump over his legal woes.

It is not just Le Pen and her allies who have expressed concern over what they see as judicial overreach.

Prime Minister Francois Bayrou and Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin, as well as some left-wing rivals, have signalled discomfort with judges - rather than voters - deciding who can run for office, underlining a backlash against "lawfare".

That has led to the prosecutors and a judge receiving online death threats, Reuters reported, part of a growing international blowback over perceived judicial efforts to police politics.

WHAT DOES THE RN DO NOW?

RN leaders had said they did not expect Le Pen to be barred but that if she were, then 29-year-old party president Jordan Bardella would be their 2027 candidate.

Bardella slammed Monday's court ruling, saying: "Today it is not only Marine Le Pen who was unjustly condemned. It was French democracy that was killed."

($1 = 0.9244 euros)

(Reporting by Juliette Jabkhiro and Elizabeth Pineau; writing by Gabriel Stargardter; editing by Richard Lough, Mark Heinrich and Gareth Jones)