The ruling could mean that the French far right's leader will not be able to stand for president in the 2027 elections, though she has appealed.

The three-time presidential candidate was found guilty of embezzlement after her party used European Parliament funds destined for parliamentary assistants to pay for party staff.

A Paris court on Monday, March 31, sentenced far-right leader Marine Le Pen to a five-year ban on running for public office with immediate effect, throwing into doubt her bid to stand for president in 2027. She was also given a four-year prison term but will not go to jail, with two years of the term suspended and the other two to be served outside jail with an electronic bracelet, the court ruled. Le Pen's lawyer said two hours after the decision that she would appeal.

Including Le Pen, nine current or former MEPs from the far-right Rassembement National (RN) party were convicted. Twelve assistants were also convicted of concealing a crime, with the court estimating the scheme was worth €2.9 million. All the RN officials, including Le Pen, were banned from running for office, with the judge specifying that the sanction should come into force with immediate effect even if an appeal is lodged.

Le Pen had left the courtroom before the judge announced how long the electoral ban would last and before rulings on a potential prison sentence and fine. She is due to give a primetime TV interview on Monday evening.

The three-time presidential candidate was accused of having hired four fictitious assistants when she was a member of the European Parliament (2004-2017). In reality, they were working for her party, the Front National (FN, now RN). The assistants, who were paid by the European Parliament, carried out tasks linked to the management of the party rather than work related to European parliamentary activity, as is normally required of such positions. In addition to the suspicions of fictitious employment, the court suspected Le Pen of having been at the heart of an organized and centralized "embezzlement system" of money paid by the European Union to her party between 2004 and 2016.

On the stand in the fall of 2024, Le Pen denied the very notion of a system, claiming there was a lack of evidence and criticizing the lies peddled by former colleagues driven, she said, by "vengeance."

"It's a blow to democracy," Le Pen's lawyer Rodolphe Bosselut told reporters outside her party's Paris headquarters. Le Pen is in a "fighting mood," added Laurent Jacobelli, an RN lawmaker and party spokesman.

RN party leader Jordan Bardella, 29, said French democracy was being "executed" with the "unjust" court decision, which is "a democratic scandal," according to him. He also called for a peaceful "mobilization" in a post on X: "With our popular and peaceful mobilization, let's show them that the will of the people is stronger."

A member of Prime Minister François Bayrou's entourage told Agence France-Presse (AFP), confirming a report in Le Parisien, that Baryou was "troubled by the verdict." He does not, however, intend to make "any comment on a court decision," the source told AFP.

US President Donald Trump's administration weighed in on the matter with State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce saying: "exclusion of people from the political process is particularly concerning given the aggressive and corrupt lawfare waged against President Trump here in the United States."

Trump later added: "She was banned from running for five years and she was the leading candidate. That sounds like this country, that sounds very much like this country," Trump said, describing the court ruling as "a very big deal."

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