‘Politicians have always been schemers’: upheld conviction fails to dent Le Pen’s popularity | Marine Le Pen

Jean-Antoine, a retired decorator in the small French town of Montargis, was pleased that Marine Le Pen had shaken up French politics again by launching a bid for the presidency despite her legal troubles.

“Even the judges said that she did not personally profit from the money, it was for her party,” he said of Le Pen’s newly confirmed conviction for embezzlement. “All politicians in France have always been scheming, it’s a fact of life.”

Jean-Antoine, 76, who once painted luxury fashion stores, felt that voters, a puppet of France’s far-right, anti-immigrant party, the National Rally (RN), would not care about this week’s appeal court ruling on Le Pen’s misuse of European parliament funds.

Jean-Antoine’s late father fled Spain to France during the civil war in the 1930s and became part of the French resistance against the occupation of Hitler’s Germany. “But migration needs to stop now,” he said.

Le Pen’s conviction last year meant she was barred from running until the 2030s, but that restriction was shortened by appeal judges this week. This allowed him to announce a phoenix-like return to the presidential race, which will be voted on next year.

The court’s decision came despite a finding that he was guilty of playing a key role in siphoning more than €2.8 million through fake jobs fraud of unprecedented scale and duration between 2004 and 2016 and funneling it to his cash-strapped party.

Judges ordered him to wear an electronic ankle bracelet for a year due to a home curfew but he vowed to appeal to France’s highest court; this will effectively suspend his conviction and sentence while he campaigns ahead of the presidential vote. This week’s instant vote It showed that its popularity is high and that it is in a strong position for two rounds of voting next April and May. He previously lost to Emmanuel Macron in 2017 and 2022.

Located 75 miles south of Paris, Montargis is famous for its beautiful canals and pralines. This is one of many towns that elected right-wing mayors in local elections earlier this year, when the RN and its allies tripled the number of town halls under their control.

“When they won here, I went to the city hall and said: ‘I don’t know if you can do better than the last one, but you can’t do worse either,’” Jean-Antoine said. “And I would say this to Marine Le Pen: People want change.”

Another local, an antiques dealer in his 60s who asked to remain anonymous, said: “People will still vote for Le Pen because there is huge pressure for change. Immigration, benefits, the healthcare system; none of these are working properly and people have not had enough. Le Pen’s legal case seems unfair; a left-wing politician would not be treated by the justice system the way Le Pen was treated.”

Montargis played his part vests yellows He participated in the anti-government protests of 2018 and 2019 as an active participant of the new RN mayor Côme Dunis, now 36 years old. In 2023, there was unrest in the town and damage to shops and businesses when riots spread across France after Paris police shot and killed Nahel Merzouk, a 17-year-old of Algerian and Moroccan origin, for disobeying orders to stop her car.

The RN’s electoral gain in Montargis, where it draws votes from the traditional right, was seen as a reflection of Marine Le Pen’s 15-year attempt to clean up the party’s image by changing its name while maintaining its strict anti-immigration policy. Founded in 1972 as the National Front by Marine Le Pen’s father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, it has long been seen by its critics as a danger to democracy and a promoter of racist, anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim views.

Gisèle, 84, a recently retired girls’ gymnastics coach and competition referee from the area, said fears of crime and drug dealing were increasing. He was pleased that Le Pen was the candidate, but thought her embezzlement conviction might hinder her. “I think that could curb it,” he said.

Le Pen’s decision to run for president means her party’s leader, Jordan Bardella, will no longer run to replace her. The 30-year-old was expanding the RN’s voter base by appealing to more bourgeois and high-income voters than the traditional right.

“I’m disappointed that Jordan Bardella is not running for president,” said Christiane, a hand and foot care specialist. “Bardella is young, close to the people, he had a chance. I love Marine Le Pen, but will France really elect a president with faith?”

Céline, a pharmacist and centrist voter, said: “I don’t think it’s right for you to run for president of France if you’ve been convicted.”

Selma (48), a mother of three whose Tunisian grandfather received a medal for fighting for France in the Second World War, said she feared Le Pen’s increasing presence in the campaign would polarize people.

“I am concerned about the deep divisions in society,” he said. “Racism is becoming more brazen. The other day I was verbally attacked in a parking lot. A woman who asked for my parking space racially belittled me by saying she was more French than me. We are all human and we do not choose our skin color or our origins.”