Le Pen bid imperiled after ban, jail term over graft

A French court has thrown into severe doubt far-right leader Marine Le Pen's 2027 bid for president, handing her a five-year ban on running for office after convicting her over a fake jobs scheme.

She was also given a four-year prison term by the Paris court but will not go to jail, with two years of the term suspended and the other two to be served outside jail with an electronic bracelet.

The ruling marks a catastrophic setback for Le Pen, the National Rally, or RN, party chief and a front-runner in opinion polls on the 2027 contest.

Le Pen, the RN, and two dozen party figures were accused of diverting more than 4 million euros (HK$33.7 million) of European Parliament funds to pay France-based staff.

They had argued the money was used legitimately and that the allegations had defined too narrowly what a parliamentary assistant does. Judge Benedicte de Perthuis said Le Pen had been "at the heart" of the scheme. Le Pen's removal from the race is likely to intensify a debate in France over how judges police politics.

Since her first defeat to Macron in 2017, Le Pen has patiently worked on softening her image, tacking her party toward the political mainstream and striving to appear as a leader-in-waiting rather than a radical anti-system opponent.

She now presides over the single biggest party in the National Assembly.

The judges also gave Le Pen a four-year prison sentence - of which two years are a suspended sentence - and a 100,000-euro fine.

She is almost certain to appeal, and neither of those penalties would be applied until her appeals are exhausted. But her five-year ineligibility sentence kicks in immediately, via a so-called "provisional execution" measure requested by prosecutors, and will only be lifted if any appeal is upheld before the election.

She retains her parliamentary seat until her mandate ends. Appeals in France can take months or even years.

RN president Jordan Bardella, Le Pen's 29-year-old right-hand man, now looks set to become the party's de facto candidate for the 2027 election. While he has helped expand the RN's appeal among younger voters, experts say it is unclear whether he has the experience to win over the broader electorate the RN needs to secure victory in 2027.

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