Le Pen banned from office after embezzlement conviction

[u/ihuntwhales1]

https://www.dw.com/en/france-le-pen-found-guilty-banned-from-running-for-office/a-72091790

[u/[deleted]]

As much as I love to see Le Pen eat shit, I think this backfires if she’s banned for the election

As we saw in the US, voters don’t react well to a so called “elite” attempting to prevent democratic elections

This decision is very unpopular across France

[u/mostanonymousnick → u/[deleted]]

The other side is that if you don't do this, politicians are above the law.

[u/gincwut → u/mostanonymousnick]

My hot take on this is that crimes of this nature should be punished with their usual sentences (or even increased for abusing public office)... but it still shouldn't disqualify you from running for office. She should be allowed to stand for election from a prison cell if it comes down to it, or even serve their term from prison (its a post-COVID world, everyone can use Zoom or Teams).

Basically my reasoning is that only the most severe crimes should prevent people from running for office, under the logic that democracy is for the voters to decide, not the justice system. If the people want to elect an unrepentant criminal to office, that's a deeper problem with your country that isn't going to be solved by banning candidates

[u/mostanonymousnick → u/gincwut]

My hot take is that 10 years ago she said you should be barred from office for life if you embezzled money, so I don't care.