Marine Le Pen’s ban polarises France

For the better part of a decade Marine Le Pen has worked methodically to transform an extremist, xenophobic fringe movement into a more respectable nationalist party ready to govern. The French hard-right leader had a reasonable chance of winning the highest office in 2027, after three unsuccessful presidential bids. The Paris court ruling on March 31st, however, which barred Ms Le Pen from running for elected office for five years, has upended both her chances and her strategy. Channelling her inner Donald Trump, the visibly furious leader of the National Rally (RN) party declared that “the system has taken out the nuclear bomb…because we are on the verge of winning power…We will not allow the French people to have the presidential election stolen from them.”