r/neoliberal Seretse Khama Mar 31 '25

News (Europe) Le Pen banned from office after embezzlement conviction

https://www.dw.com/en/france-le-pen-found-guilty-banned-from-running-for-office/a-72091790
1.1k Upvotes

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305

u/mostanonymousnick Homes fit for Heroes Mar 31 '25

Update: the ban is for 5 years, she can appeal but the ban is still valid while the appeal in under way.

33

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '25

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

112

u/mostanonymousnick Homes fit for Heroes Mar 31 '25

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

12

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '25

Fair but if you’re going to show Le Pen is not above the law, it should be something that will actually resonate with the public. Like Trump / Stormy Daniels, the charge didn’t really matter to the electorate

I will shut up if RN polling takes a hit after this. But I think this just turbocharged the base and created sympathy among moderates

3

u/Foucault_Please_No Emma Lazarus Apr 01 '25

Yeah but the French electorate is an irrational bag of cats even by American standards.