In the small French town of Montargis, retired decorator Jean-Antoine, 76, was pleased that Marine Le Pen had once again shaken up French politics by launching a bid for the presidency, despite her legal woes. “Even the judges said she didn’t personally profit from the money, it was for her party,” he said of Le Pen’s newly upheld conviction for embezzlement. “All politicians in France have always been schemers, it’s just a fact of life.”
Le Pen’s conviction last year had barred her from running for office until the 2030s, but appeal judges shortened that restriction this week, allowing her to declare a phoenix-like return to the presidential race. The court still ruled she was guilty of playing a key part in siphoning off more than €2.8m through a fake-jobs scam between 2004 and 2016, and ordered her to wear an electronic ankle tag for one year with a curfew. She has vowed to appeal to France’s highest court, putting the sentence on hold while she campaigns. Snap polling shows her popularity is high, and she is in a strong position for the two-round vote next April and May.
Montargis, 75 miles south of Paris, is known for its scenic canals and pralines, and is one of many towns that elected rightwing mayors earlier this year, when National Rally (RN) and its allies more than tripled the number of town halls under their control. “When they won here, I went to the town hall and I said: ‘I don’t know if you can do any better than the last lot but you can’t do any worse,’” said Jean-Antoine. “And that’s what I’d say to Marine Le Pen. People want change.”
Another local, an antiques dealer in his 60s who did not want to be named, said: “People will still vote for Le Pen because there’s massive pressure for change. Immigration, benefits, the healthcare system - none of that is working properly and people have had enough. Le Pen’s legal case feels unfair - a leftwing politician wouldn’t have been treated the way Le Pen was by the justice system.”
Montargis played its part in the gilets jaunes protests of 2018-2019, with its new RN mayor, Côme Dunis, 36, as an active participant. In 2023, there was unrest after Paris police shot and killed Nahel Merzouk, a 17-year-old boy of Algerian and Moroccan descent. RN’s election gain in Montargis reflects Marine Le Pen’s 15-year attempt to detoxify the party’s image, changing its name while keeping hardline anti-immigration policy.
Gisèle, 84, a recently retired girls’ gymnastics coach, said the fear of crime and drug-dealing was increasing. She was glad Le Pen was running but felt the conviction could hinder her. “I think this could put a brake on her,” she said.
Le Pen’s decision to stand means that party president Jordan Bardella, 30, will not run. Christiane, a chiropodist, said: “I’m disappointed Jordan Bardella isn’t running for president. Bardella is young, he’s close to the people, he had a chance. I like Marine Le Pen, but is France really going to elect a president with a conviction?”
Céline, a pharmacist and centrist voter, said: “I don’t think it’s right to run for French president if you have been convicted.” Selma, 48, a mother-of-three whose Tunisian grandfather fought for France in WWII, said she feared Le Pen was polarising people. “Racism is becoming more brazen. The other day I was verbally assaulted in a car park. A woman who wanted my parking spot humiliated me in a racist way, saying she was more French than I was.”