Back in 2013, when a Socialist minister was accused (and eventually convicted) of tax fraud, the righteous fury of Marine Le Pen knew no bounds. Any politician found guilty of financial misconduct, she fulminated, should be ineligible for office for the rest of their lives. That was very much then. Although a court of appeal on Tuesday upheld her own conviction for embezzling European parliament funds, Ms Le Pen announced the same day that she would be the candidate for her far-right National Rally party (RN) in next year’s presidential race.
Confounding speculation that she was preparing to hand the baton on to Jordan Bardella, her young protege, Ms Le Pen has thereby made the biggest gamble of her political career. The court’s ruling enabled her to make a fourth bid for the Élysée by reducing an eligibility ban to a length of time already served. But it also insisted that she wear an electronic monitoring tag, restricting the hours in which she could campaign. That sanction has been circumvented by her appeal to France’s highest court, the cour de cassation – which may or may not be heard before the presidential election’s first round in April.
