Most polling data suggested that conservative French politician Marine Le Pen was the leading candidate ahead of France's 2027 presidential election.

Yet that situation abruptly changed this week when a Paris court banned Le Pen from running for her country's highest job. 

Le Pen may not seek elected office for five years

According to Breitbart, Le Pen was given "a political death sentence" in the form of a five year prohibition on seeking elected office.

That came after it was found that she and another eight members of her National Rally party had collectively embezzled some 2.9 million euros.

The funds had been provided to them by the European Parliament to cover the cost of parliamentary assistants in Strasbourg, a city which is located in northeastern France.

However, the court ruled that the money in question had instead been used for National Rally's political operations, with Le Pen personally misallocating roughly 474,000 euros.

French lawmaker fears for "the democratic destiny of our nation"

This week's decision was met with outrage from critics online, including from Deputy of the French National Assembly Éric Ciotti.

Ciotti declared in a social media post that "the democratic destiny of our nation" had been "confiscated by an unworthy judicial cabal."

"This is not a simple malfunction, it is a system of power capture that systematically excludes any candidate too far to the right who is capable of winning," he asserted.

Nor was condemnation limited to France, as Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini  wrote, "Those who fear the judgment of voters often seek reassurance from the courts."

Italian deputy prime minister says ruling against Le Pen is "terrifying"

"In Paris, they have condemned Marine Le Pen and would like to remove her from political life. A bad situation that is also being observed in other countries such as Romania," he continued.

Ceux qui craignent le jugement des électeurs cherchent souvent à se rassurer par celui des tribunaux.
À Paris, ils ont condamné Marine Le Pen et aimeraient l’écarter de la vie politique. Un mauvais film que l’on observe également dans d’autres pays comme la Roumanie.
Ce qui se…

— Matteo Salvini (@matteosalvinimi) March 31, 2025

"What is happening against Marine Le Pen is a declaration of war from Brussels, at a time when the belligerent impulses of Von der Leyen and Macron are terrifying,"

"We are not intimidated, we are not stopped: full speed ahead, my friend!" the populist politician went on to maintain.