Banning Le Pen Won’t Save Democracy—It’s Killing It

France’s Establishment Just Declared War on Democracy—And Lost

In the gilded halls of European power, a disturbing truth is emerging: when the elite cannot win at the ballot box, they will simply change the rules of the game. 

The naked cynicism of this manoeuvre is breathtaking. Prosecutors took the extraordinary step of requesting Le Pen’s immediate ban from running for office rather than waiting until the appeals process concluded—a stunning departure from French legal norms. The judges complied, citing the “gravity” of her crime, while conveniently ignoring similar cases involving establishment figures that resulted in no meaningful consequences.

The optics matter…This is not justice; this is not winning; this is how you create martyrs. Have the architects of this judicial assault learned nothing from the Trump trials, where each indictment only fortified his support? By circumventing the democratic process to eliminate an electoral threat, France’s establishment reveals not strength but profound weakness—and a dangerous willingness to sacrifice democratic principles on the altar of political expediency.

From Lagarde to Le Pen: France’s Hypocritical War on Political Rivals 

The contrast could not be more stark than in the case of Christine Lagarde, who in 2016 was found guilty of negligence in approving a massive €400 million payout of taxpayers’ money to controversial businessman Bernard Tapie during her time as Finance Minister. Despite this conviction for mishandling vast sums of public funds, Lagarde faced no jail time, no fine, and remarkably, the court decided her conviction “would not constitute a criminal record.” She continued as head of the International Monetary Fund without interruption and was later rewarded with the presidency of the European Central Bank in 2019—one of the most powerful economic positions in Europe. 

This double standard reveals the true mechanism at work: judicial severity scales not with the crime but with one’s distance from establishment power. Lagarde, firmly entrenched within the neoliberal institutional architecture, faced what amounted to a judicial shrug for mishandling hundreds of millions in public funds. Le Pen, who challenges that very establishment, receives the judicial equivalent of a guillotine for alleged infractions involving a fraction of that amount. The message couldn’t be clearer—the law exists not as a neutral arbiter but as a weapon to be selectively deployed against threats to the status quo. 

Judicial Authoritarianism: How Europe’s Elites Silence Opposition

As former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis—no friend of the far-right—observed, the charges against Le Pen were “laughable and ludicrous,” and making them “a jailable offense and also a reason to bar her from running in the presidential election” is “mindboggling.” Varoufakis, who has consistently defended democratic principles regardless of political alignment, didn’t mince words: “Either the law applies to everyone or it applies to no one.” 

Even political opponents across the spectrum recognise the dangerous precedent being set. Éric Coquerel of the left-wing La France Insoumise warned, “I don’t agree that things that should be decided by the ballot box are decided by the courts. It will only paint the National Rally as a victim.” Meanwhile, centrist Prime Minister François Bayrou was reportedly “troubled” by the verdict, while Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin stated it would be “deeply shocking” if Le Pen were barred from elections, insisting she must be defeated “at the ballot box, not elsewhere.” 

The pattern is becoming unmistakable across Western democracies—a systematic attempt to criminalize political opposition. What we’re witnessing in France follows Romania’s electoral ban of right-wing presidential frontrunner Cǎlin Georgescu and parallels the Democratic Party’s relentless lawfare against Donald Trump in the United States. As Varoufakis observed, the French are simply “doing it in a more obvious, less defensible way than the American Democrats.” 

The irony is that these heavy-handed tactics will likely backfire spectacularly. National Rally president Jordan Bardella, positioned as Le Pen’s heir apparent, captured the sentiment perfectly: “Today, it’s not just Marine Le Pen who is unfairly condemned: It’s French democracy that is being executed.” This verdict doesn’t weaken Le Pen’s movement—it transforms her into a martyr while validating her supporters’ deepest suspicions about a corrupt system rigged against them. 

Perhaps most disturbing is the precedent this sets for democratic governance throughout Europe. If judicial mechanisms can be weaponised to eliminate populist challenges from the right today, they can just as easily target the left tomorrow. As Varoufakis warned, “The Romanian case was the dress rehearsal. Now, they’ve moved on to Le Pen. Tomorrow, they’ll go after Jean-Luc Mélenchon.” 

Meanwhile, authoritarian leaders like Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan—who has imprisoned his own political rivals—must be “laughing his head off,” observing Europe’s hypocritical “descent into the abyss of totalitarianism.” How can Western powers credibly criticize his actions when they’re deploying precisely the same playbook? 

Le Pen may not be everyone’s political cup of tea, but when the instruments of state are deployed to circumvent the democratic process, democracy itself becomes the casualty. The message to voters is clear: your voice matters only when it aligns with establishment preferences. 

This judicial coup doesn’t represent the triumph of liberal values—it signals their abandonment. True democrats understand that dangerous ideas are defeated through superior arguments and policies, not through judicial suppression. By resorting to such transparent manipulation, France’s establishment hasn’t protected democracy; they’ve delivered its eulogy. 

Paul Knaggs

Editor, founder, Labour Heartlands, Citizen journalist. 𝙁𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙗𝙤𝙧𝙣 𝙀𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝 𝙍𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙎𝙤𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙩. Fighting a constant struggle with dyslexia that’s overcome with a burning desire to speak out against the corrupt political system and the social injustices it creates. Advocate for Free speech and open, accountable, democracy. #GTTO