French Far-Right Leader Le Pen Announces Presidential Bid Despite Legal Risks

Marine Le Pen, a lawmaker from France's far-right National Rally (RN), officially announced on July 7 (local time) that she will run in next year's presidential election despite facing legal risks.

Appearing on the TF1 television network that evening, Le Pen stated, "I am declaring my candidacy for the presidential election, and I will not change my position."

Earlier that afternoon, an appeals court sentenced Le Pen to three years in prison, a fine of 100,000 euros (approximately 170 million won), and a 45-month ban on holding public office for the misappropriation of European Parliament funds.

The court ruled that of the prison sentence, two years would be suspended, while the remaining one year would be served under house arrest with an electronic monitoring bracelet.

The court also suspended 30 months of the ban on holding public office, determining that the remaining 15 months had already been satisfied following the initial ruling on March 31 of last year.

As a result, the restrictions on Le Pen's eligibility to hold office have been lifted, allowing her to run for president legally.

Le Pen had previously stated on several occasions that she would not run for president if the appeals court imposed a condition requiring an electronic monitoring bracelet, arguing that it would prevent her from conducting a proper campaign. However, she changed her stance following the verdict.

Le Pen announced that she would appeal the decision to the Supreme Court, claiming that doing so would "suspend the effect of the appeals court ruling."

Consequently, she expressed confidence that she would "campaign without an electronic monitoring bracelet."

Le Pen and other current and former RN officials were indicted on charges of embezzlement and conspiracy to commit fraud. They were accused of creating false documents to hire parliamentary assistants for European Parliament activities between 2004 and 2016, while actually using the funds to pay salaries for staff working for the party.

In March of last year, the court of first instance recognized that Le Pen had misappropriated 474,000 euros (approximately 700 million won) and sentenced her to four years in prison (two years of which were to be served as house arrest with an electronic bracelet), a fine of 100,000 euros, and an immediate five-year ban on holding public office.

Regarding the appeals court's decision to significantly reduce the duration of her ineligibility to hold office, Le Pen said, "I am happy that the French people have regained their freedom to vote," adding, "Disqualification is a serious democratic issue. The final decision rests with the French people."

This marks Le Pen's fourth bid for the presidency.

After serving as a member of the European Parliament, she succeeded her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, as party leader in 2011 and began her pursuit of the presidency the following year.

In her first presidential run in 2012, she received 17.9 percent of the vote, finishing third behind François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy, and failed to advance to the runoff.

Le Pen subsequently began to overhaul the party's image and expand its support base in earnest.

To purify the party, she excluded radical and controversial figures and curbed anti-Semitic, racist, and homophobic rhetoric.

In 2015, she even expelled her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, an icon of the original far-right, from the party.

Thanks to these efforts, she advanced to the runoff in the 2017 presidential election to face President Emmanuel Macron.

However, she suffered another defeat, trailing by a massive margin of 32 percentage points (p).

The far-right party still faced a high barrier in French politics.

Nevertheless, in their 2022 rematch against President Macron, that gap was cut nearly in half to 17.1 percentage points.

The RN currently holds a dominant lead in party approval ratings, making its chances of taking power greater than ever before.

Le Pen is shown to be in first place in scenarios for the first round of the presidential race.

However, as in the previous two presidential elections, the final result remains difficult to predict, as supporters of other parties may unite under an anti-far-right banner in the runoff, where the top two candidates compete.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.