French populist leader Marine Le Pen is facing an investigation into alleged campaign finance violations in relation to her 2022 presidential run against Emmanuel Macron.
Fresh off her anti-mass migration National Rally (RN) party’s best-ever performance in a legislative election, winning 143 seats in the National Assembly — the best ever for the party — it has been revealed that the Paris prosecutor’s office has opened a judicial investigation into alleged illegal financing of Marine Le Pen’s 2022 presidential campaign.
The investigation, which was opened on July 2nd — just two days after her party won the first round of the snap legislative elections — will probe alleged fraud, forgery, and a potentially illegally accepted loan, broadcaster BFMTV reports.
Responding to the report a top RN official told the AFP: “We don’t know what the facts are. We had the information of the opening of this investigation, like everyone else, this (Tuesday) morning on BFMTV”
“I am very surprised because the campaign account was validated in December 2022 and repaid in February 2023,” he added.
Le Pen is already facing criminal prosecution over allegations that she and other members of her party fraudulently established fake employees in the European Parliament to divert money to fund political activities in France.
If convicted the populist leader could face up to ten years in prison as well as a ban on running for public office, potentially blocking her from running in the 2027 presidential election.
Le Pen, alongside her estranged father Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of the party under its original name, the National Front, will face trial in the autumn over the allegations.
The populist leader is currently the frontrunner to replace Emmanuel Macron, who is prohibited from running again in 2027 due to the constitutional limit of two consecutive terms for French presidents.
According to a Toluna-Harris Interactive survey conducted over the past week, Le Pen would get between 31 and 32 per cent of the vote in the first round of the 2027 presidential election, far above any other candidate and enough to secure her place in the second round, Bloomberg reports.
Le Pen has run three failed campaigns to become president, being thwarted by Emmanuel Macron twice as he effectively rallied centrists and leftists to band together to block her rise. Nevertheless, Le Pen increases her standing in the polls every time she stands and Macron will be blocked from running due to term limit rules. With that in mind, many see 2027 as the best chance yet for a populist takeover of the Élysée Palace.
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