The instantaneous five-year electoral ban imposed on Monday against Marine Le Pen, France’s far-right frontrunner, in the 2027 presidential race, could effectively end her roughly three-decade-long controversial political career. Ms Le Pen, who previously made three unsuccessful bids for the Elysee Palace, has vowed to appeal against the verdict, although according to one legal opinion, there was little wiggle room to overturn the ban. Other less potent terms of the conviction include a four-year prison sentence, two of which could be suspended and the remaining spent wearing an electronic tag, besides a euros 100,000 fine.

After a decade-long investigation, a Paris criminal court found that Le Pen’s xenophobic and Eurosceptic Rassemblement National (RN) party had syphoned off European Union (EU) funds to the tune of 4.4 million euros to promote its activities in France. While the RN’s nine former members in the Brussels legislature alongside........

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