Marine Le Pen loses latest round of legal battle against ban from politics
On Wednesday the administrative court in Lille ruled against her appeal contesting her automatic resignation as a local councillor in the Pas-de-Calais département, following
her conviction in March
for embezzlement of millions of euro of public funds.
The Lille ruling is the latest in a series of setbacks for the Rassemblement National leader, who was banned from holding political office in France for five years after her conviction. Crucially, judges in her trial ordered that the ban begin immediately, rather than waiting until she has exhausted the appeals process.
Most attention has focused on her eligibility to run for president in 2027, but the ban also affects other offices that she holds. At present she retains her position as MP for Pas-de-Calais, but was dismissed in April from her role as a local councillor in the northern département of Pas-de-Calais.
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The Lille tribunal ruled that the electoral code requires "the Préfet to automatically declare the resignation of a departmental elected official declared ineligible by the criminal court, by a provisionally enforceable judgement".
Le Pen is appealing against her conviction for embezzlement of public funds
in the 'fake jobs' case
, but she is also challenging the legality of applying the ban before she has exhausted the appeals process.
Her lawyers have posed a
question prioritaire de constitutionnalité
(QPC) to the Conseil Constitutionnel - France's
highest authority on electoral matters
- to consider the legality of banning a candidate who has been convicted by the courts, but who has not yet exhausted the appeals process.
Because appeals can take years, the answer to this question essentially determines whether Le Pen can stand in the 2027 presidential elections.
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Who's who in the 2027 French election
The Lille court's ruling may be appealed to the Conseil d'Etat within one month, which would suspend the compulsory resignation.
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