What does the Le Pen verdict mean for the future of French politics?

Convicted of embezzlement and slapped with a five year ban on running for public office, where does arch-conservative Marine Le Pen go from here — and will the movement she leads follow?

Photo composite illustration of Marine Le Pen, the Palais Bourbon and French flag
Le Pen's sentence has succeeded in 'upending France's political order' and thrust her political party 'into limbo'
(Image credit: Illustration by Stephen Kelly / Getty Images)

There is perhaps no politician in Europe today who embodies the continent's far-right more than Marine Le Pen. Her thrice-unsuccessful presidential runs on a staunch anti-immigration platform have positioned Le Pen as one of the elder statesmen in Europe's rightward political lurch for more than a decade, alongside similar figures like Hungary's Viktor Orban and Germany's Alice Weidel. But after years of working to make France a more restrictive place culturally and economically, Le Pen's political fortunes may have finally run out: On March 31, a French court convicted her of embezzling millions in European Parliament funds, sentencing Le Pen not only to several years of prison time but also barring her from running for political office for the next five years.

Reportedly muttering "incredible" as she stormed out of the courtroom before her sentence was fully announced, Le Pen now finds herself in political exile while the movement she once led scrambles to persevere in her absence. Though she has vowed to appeal her conviction, Le Pen's political future is now wholly unclear, as is the future of her National Rally Party, and French domestic politics as a whole.

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Rafi Schwartz, The Week US

Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.