Ooh-la-la, there seems to be a lot of this going on in Fance!

It’s always a compromise escaped, Macron was an unpopular compromise when he was elected the second time, but he wasn’t as unpopular as the alternative.

the supporters of the other candidates would vote for anybody rather than her
That's probably true, but then who do they end up with? A sort of stand-in who is only chosen to block LP?
Macron will be such a hard act to follow too.

I don’t think Marine Le Pen would ever have become President, because as shown in the last general elections, her party, and her, are disliked by a much higher percentage of the French population than support them, and the supporters of the other candidates would vote for anybody rather than her - that was how Macron got to be president for a second term.

Sadgrandma

Is there any country that doesn’t have corrupt politicians?

Probably not...........

I agree with David49, and I am also not sure it is correct to say that Marine Le Pen would not have become President. Stranger things have happened in France.
I see the problem now as being that many aspiring French politicians will have to lie low and tread carefully because many aren't squeaky clean! For example, the Prime Minister, Bayrou, was acquitted of the same crime as LP, his being given the benefit of the doubt over his involvement in fraud. (He had to resign as Justice Minister, (the irony of it!), only one month into Macron's reign).
Because Bardella is young, it might be impossible to implicate him in any previous shenanigans, so he can walk tall.

What no Monica here?!

MayBee70

Someone on another forum has pointed out that there are plenty of people to replace her and that her party have gone up ratings wise .

Yes - the Trump phenomenon. Being a convicted felon hasn’t done him any harm.

And in any case Le Pen does have a younger rival for her place as leader.

Grantanow

Le Pen's present showing in the polls suggests she would not obtain an overall majority in the first round, in a second round run-off the other parties would combine to vote against her and she wouldn't become President. In my opinion it's far better for her to fail at election rather than be prevented from standing,

2 yrs is a very long time in politics, we havn’t seen the last of Le Pen, legal action didn’t stop Trump if anything it motivated his supporters.

Le Pen's present showing in the polls suggests she would not obtain an overall majority in the first round, in a second round run-off the other parties would combine to vote against her and she wouldn't become President. In my opinion it's far better for her to fail at election rather than be prevented from standing,

Yes, Macron did a Masters at Sciences Po, which I believe is a grande école.

escaped

Macron was the youngest French president at 39.
Jordan Bardella will only be 31 at the next general voting in 2027.

He may have been young when he became President but at least Macron finished his studies and had working experience before he was voted in.

Jordan Bardella dropped out of university and started going out with Marie LePen’s niece and has been groomed ever since, for the position he is in, they say.

Macron was the youngest French president at 39.
Jordan Bardella will only be 31 at the next general voting in 2027.

I'm not surprised the party ratings have gone up. However, I would think it's probably over for Le Pen now, in terms of ever winning an election. But she won't be lying low, and will no doubt have plenty of input going forward. From what I am gathering, and I am in France now, Jordan Bardella is considered too young, too inexperienced, but who knows?

Someone on another forum has pointed out that there are plenty of people to replace her and that her party have gone up ratings wise .

It's a pity that a certain country across the pond doesn't follow the same criteria.

Is yeete eene en xprooch leerer ore is google iwersëtsung am xafe iwer tsayt?

Oh merde! encore une erreur political politique

Mais oui! As mentioned up thread Christine Lagarde who gave the Greeks a Gallic finger wagging for not paying their taxes, but didn't pay any herself.

C'est la classe political, ce sont hypocrites, ne faites pas comme moi, faites ce que je dis

BlueBelle

Phew brilliant keep her out the game for a while

Hear hear!

Hooray!

Jaberwok

This could well have enhanced her party, lots of people are not happy with this, considering others have been guilty and got away with it. The French state may not want her, but, as in the US, that doesn't mean the French people don't! Why the comments in French? Surely not to prove a bilingual point??!!

Surely only the people who haven’t understood the scale of the embezzlement would ever vote for her again. It wasn’t a small scale error of judgement. Knowing misappropriation of funds meant for a clearly defined other purpose is a serious criminal act, whichever way you look at it, and whoever did it. I don’t understand why anybody would want to vote for anybody who had done that, how could you ever trust them to be honest in public office?

GrannyGravy13

spabbygirl I think the difference is that Mr.Murdock assaulted (they argued and he pushed her which resulted in her falling over according to your link) happened 20 years ago when he was 19 years old.

He was not an MP at the time, he was elected in 2024.

I do not condone violence whether it be man on man, man on woman, woman on man or woman on woman.

Mr Amesbury was an MP at the time when he punched a man to the ground, and continued to assault him whilst the man was in the ground.

I see what you mean GrannyGravy13, it would put me off voting for him and that is probably why Reform didn't speak about the offence albeit 20yrs ago prior to the election.

mind you I wouldn't vote for reform ever, Farage wants an insurance based NHS and that would put me off for starters

Jaberwok

This could well have enhanced her party, lots of people are not happy with this, considering others have been guilty and got away with it. The French state may not want her, but, as in the US, that doesn't mean the French people don't! Why the comments in French? Surely not to prove a bilingual point??!!

Surely you're not suggesting that upholding the law should be swayed by a populist vote. That's vigilantism.

spabbygirl I think the difference is that Mr.Murdock assaulted (they argued and he pushed her which resulted in her falling over according to your link) happened 20 years ago when he was 19 years old.

He was not an MP at the time, he was elected in 2024.

I do not condone violence whether it be man on man, man on woman, woman on man or woman on woman.

Mr Amesbury was an MP at the time when he punched a man to the ground, and continued to assault him whilst the man was in the ground.