‘Politicians have always been schemers’: upheld conviction fails to dent Le Pen’s popularity

Summary

Presidential bid by leader of far-right National Rally has no shortage of supporters in scenic Montargis In the small French town of Montargis, Jean-Antoine, a retired decorator, was pleased Marine Le Pen had again shaken up French politics by launching a bid for the presidency , despite her legal woes. “Even the judges said she didn’t personally profit from the money, it was for her party,” he said of Le Pen’s newly upheld conviction for embezzlement . “All politicians in France have always been schemers, it’s just a fact of life.” Jean-Antoine, 76, who once painted luxury fashion stores, felt voters for the figurehead of France’s far-right, anti-immigration party National Rally (RN) wouldn’t care about this week’s appeal court decision over Le Pen’s misuse of European parliament funds. Jean-Antoine’s late father fled to France from Spain during its civil war in the 1930s and became part of the French resistance standing up to occupation by Hitler’s Germany. “But now immigration has to stop,” he said. Le Pen’s conviction last year had meant she was barred from running for office until the 2030s, but that restriction was shortened by appeal judges this week. This allowed her to declare a phoenix-like return to the presidential race, which will be voted on next year. The court’s decision came despite its ruling that she was guilty of playing a key part in siphoning off of more than €2.8m through a fake-jobs scam of unprecedented scale and duration, and funnelling it to her cash-strapped party between 2004 and 2016. Judges ordered her to wear an electronic ankle tag for one year with a curfew at her home, but she has vowed to lodge an appeal with France’s highest court, which will effectively put her conviction and sentence on hold while she campaigns ahead of the presidential vote. Snap polling this week showed her popularity is high and she is in a strong position for the two-round vote next April and May. She previously lost to Emmanuel Macron in 2017 and 2022. Immigration, benefits, the healthcare system – none of that is working properly and people have had enough. RN’s election gain in Montargis, where it took votes from the traditional right, was viewed as a reflection of Marine Le Pen’s 15-year attempt to detoxify the party’s image – changing its name while keeping its hardline anti-immigration policy.