PARIS, April 6, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - France's far right plans to rally supporters on Sunday after their figurehead Marine Le Pen was convicted of embezzlement and banned from public office, a move likely to exclude her from the 2027 presidential election.
The bombshell judgement stunned France's political establishment, with even some of her fiercest opponents saying the far-right leader should be allowed to stand in the 2027 vote. She has lodged an appeal.

"People of France, let us mobilise to defend freedom, save democracy and support Marine!" Le Pen's National Rally (RN) party said on X ahead of the protest in Paris.

Polls indicate Le Pen, 56, would easily top the first round of the two-round presidential vote if she ran -- the latest survey by pollster Elabe for broadcaster BFMTV, released Saturday, showed her with up to 36 percent of the vote.

She describes herself as the "favourite" to succeed President Emmanuel Macron.

On Monday, Le Pen was found guilty of embezzlement and given a partly suspended jail term and an immediate ban on holding public office.

Her supporters branded the ruling politically motivated, but Macron insisted the French judiciary is "independent".

US President Donald Trump called the sentence a "witch hunt" by "European leftists using lawfare to silence free speech, and censor their political opponent".

Prime Minister Francois Bayrou rejected that remark as "interference" in French affairs, in a newspaper interview released Saturday.

He added that it was "neither healthy nor desirable" to stage a demonstration against the court ruling, insisting French institutions allowed for "the separation of powers and the defence of justice".

- 'Victimisation' -

Le Pen's conviction set France's political scene alight, with some leftwing forces planning to stage a counter-rally on Sunday.

Jordan Bardella, the 29-year-old head of the National Rally, said the ruling would only boost support for the party.

He has called the rally in Place Vauban in Paris's affluent 7th district "a mobilisation not against, but in support of French democracy".

"It's not a power play," he said.

On Saturday, National Rally supporters gathered in the southern port city of Marseille, but the turnout was relatively sparse, with around 500 people turning up.

Le Pen has worked to turn the party into an electable mainstream force and rid it of the legacy of her father, its co-founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, who died in January and was frequently accused of racism.

But now Le Pen risks seeing years of progress undone, political observers say.

After the ruling, she accused authorities of using a "nuclear bomb" against her.

She compared herself to Alexei Navalny, the jailed Russian opposition leader who died in an Arctic prison in 2024 after being jailed under President Vladimir Putin. "Indecent to the end," said left-leaning French daily Liberation in its verdict on that claim.

"She is forced to adopt an anti-establishment point of view and position," said Jean-Yves Dormagen, president of Cluster17, an opinion analysis institute.

"Victimisation works with her voters," he added.

The National Rally is the largest single party in the French parliament and can complicate life for Bayrou, who does not have a majority in the lower house.

His predecessor Michel Barnier was ejected from office last December in a move backed by Le Pen.

The Paris Court of Appeal said it would examine Le Pen's case within a timeframe that could potentially allow her to contest the polls if her conviction is overturned or her sentence changed.