At the RN trial, Marine Le Pen says she is a candidate for the 2027 presidential election and is worried about a penalty of ineligibility

During her last questioning before the judges this Wednesday, November 6, the president of the RN deputies regretted being threatened with a penalty of ineligibility which “would have the consequence of depriving her” of a candidacy in 2027. The hypothesis is however unlikely thanks to legal remedies.

Did Marine Le Pen try to play on the heartstrings? Present before the judges of the Paris criminal court this Wednesday afternoon as part of the National Rally trial, the former president of the party was worried about her political future. Marine Le Pen risks ten years in prison, a fine of one million euros and a ten-year ineligibility sentence.

“I am a presidential candidate,” launched the president of the RN deputies, regretting that “the automaticity of a sentence of ineligibility would have the consequence of depriving her” of the race for the Élysée.

A conviction that would have a bad effect

Since September 30, the judges have been considering the affair of the parliamentary assistants of the Frontist partya file of suspicions of fictitious jobs aimed at diverting money from the European Parliament for the benefit of the party.

Despite the very diligent presence of Marine Le Pen who insisted on defending herself point by point, the defendants had great difficulty convincing the judges of the reality of the employment of their parliamentary assistants supposed to work for the European Parliament, as specified in the internal regulations of the institution.

Enough to worry the former boss of the party with the flame who risks big while she has been playing the card of respectability and the institutionalization of her deputies in the National Assembly for months.

“Behind (me), there are millions of French people who, in fact, would be deprived of their presidential candidate,” Marine Le Pen further annoyed at the helm.

A conviction which would prevent him from running unlikely

But can the sentence of a possible ten-year ineligibility sentence really prevent him from running in 2027? It is certain that in the event of a penalty of ineligibility, the elected official would appeal her judgment. There are indeed numerous avenues of appeal, from a simple appeal to the Court of Cassation, taking several years.

As long as a conviction is not final, legal sanctions are not carried out. Suffice to say that a possible ineligibility sentence definitively pronounced before 2027 seems unlikely.

For the Paris criminal court to truly impact Marine Pen's electoral calendar, the court would have to order the provisional execution of her sentence of ineligibility. In such a case, future legal appeals do not suspend this sentence.

Concretely, this would mean that the MP would lose her mandate at the end of the trial but could regain it on appeal. However, the hypothesis is not the most probable: such a decision would aim to avoid any recurrence by Marine Le Pen. But she is no longer a Member of the European Parliament, making the repetition of the alleged facts hypothetical.

The trial is scheduled until November 27. The pleadings of the lawyers of the European Parliament, civil party to the trial will take place on Tuesday, before the requisitions of the prosecution on Wednesday.