FAR-right leader Marine Le Pen has vowed to “fight to the bitter end” after she was banned from running in France’s next election.
The National Rally leader was found guilty in an embezzlement case and barred from running for public officer for five years.
She has also insisted that she is not “demoralised”, and feels “scandalised by the decision”, despite the latest conviction crushing her ambition to become the next President of France.
“I’m not going to let myself be eliminated like this,” Le Pen told French TV station TF1 on Monday night.
She added that she will appeal against the verdict “as soon as possible” and with “whatever legal avenues I can.”
The 56-year-old far-right politician stormed out of the Paris Correctional Court after being found guilty in a corruption case involving her party, the National Rally (RN).
She was found guilty by three judges of “embezzling public funds” by setting up a fake jobs at the European Parliament.
Le Pen was barred from running for office for five years effective immediately.
The party leader was also given a sentence of two years in prison and two further years on house arrest, both suspended pending her appeal and a new trial.
Jordan Bardella is tipped to take her spot on the party’s ticket, but when asked about her possible replacement, Le Pen said she will “fight until the bitter end”.
She later added: “Jordan Bardella is a great asset for the movement, and I’ve said that for a long time, I hope that we won’t need that asset earlier than necessary, but in the meantime I am combative.
“I am not going to be eliminated in this way. I am going to try the path that’s open to me, yes it’s narrow but it exists, I am going to ask in the clearest way possible for an appeal decision to come which allows me to think about running for president.”
Le Pen’s allies reacted to the decision with fury on Monday and blasted the conviction as politically motivated – calling it a “declaration of war by Brussels”.
She will no longer be able to stand as President in 2027, despite being viewed as a favourite to take over from Emmanuel Macron.
In a hard-hitting judgement, magistrates accused Le Pen “undermining democracy”.
Prosecutors have called for a five-year prison sentence – with two served as community service – and a fine equivalent to £250,000.
Le Pen and 24 other defendants are said to have stolen around £5.6million of European taxpayers’ money by setting up fake jobs in the European Parliament over a period of at least a decade.
Those convicted alongside here included eight other former RN MEPs.
Instead of spending the money on MEP expenses in Brussels and Strasbourg, they sent it all back to the RN party HQ in Paris, it is alleged.
The judgement read: “Marine Le Pen has been at the heart of this illegal system since 2009.
“The events have seriously and lastingly undermined the rules of democracy.
“This is an enrichment of the party, a circumvention of the rules governing political party financing, and therefore a circumvention of democracy.”
Facing up to three specialist anti-corruption judges during a trial that ended in November, Ms Le Pen said: “It’s my political death they’re after.
“The prosecution’s intention is to deprive the French people of the ability to vote for those they want.”
This was despite evidence pointing to a “sophisticated billing system” being set up by Le Pen, an MEP in Brussels from 2004 until 2017.
Prosecutor Louise Neyton said Le Pen and her co-defendants had “bluntly put, turned the European Parliament into their cash cow.”
President Macron will be forced to stand down as head of state in 2027, having served the two terms allowed in France.
Ms Le Pen came second in the last two presidential elections, and her vote share has gone up every time.
The RN is currently the largest part in the National Assembly – the Paris equivalent of the House of Commons – with 123 seats
Around 13 million people vote for the party at elections – around a third of the national vote – and many see Ms Le Pen as the appropriate successor to the liberal centrist Mr Macron, who came to power in 2017.
