Marine Le Pen verdict raises tricky questions about justice and democracy | Letters

While I abhor the politics of Marine Le Pen, I believe the recent decision by the French judiciary to bar her from running for public office for five years raises important and uncomfortable questions about the relationship between justice and democracy (Report, 31 March).

The idea that someone convicted of serious offences may be unfit for high office is entirely reasonable. But in this case, the use of relatively new legal powers – at a moment of high political consequence – risks appearing politically motivated, even if it isn’t. That perception matters. Democracies must defeat dangerous ideologies at the ballot box, not in the courtroom.

When I raised these concerns in a comment on a Guardian post on Facebook, I was struck by how many responses simply told me what I must be saying, rather than engaging with what I had actually said. The nuance of my point – that democratic principles must apply even to those we oppose – was lost in the noise.

This, in my view, is part of the environment in which populism thrives: when we stop listening, assume bad faith and trade complexity for certainty. We defend democracy not just through institutions, but through the quality of our public discourse. We need to do better – or there will be far worse to come.
Anthony Richards
London

Oh, the hypocrisy of the far right. You can bet that if a mainstream political party had been found guilty of fraud, the likes of Elon Musk, Viktor Orbán and Matteo Salvini would have been crowing. But because it is one of their allies, they play the victim card and claim the verdict is a threat to democracy.

Let’s look at the real threat to democracy. By fraudulently funding the National Rally (RN), Le Pen and her colleagues were able to grow its base and support, thereby changing the political landscape in France. It isn’t the only reason why support for the RN has grown, but fraud gave it the resources to compete with more mainstream parties.

Fortunately, the French courts did their job, unlike those in the US. If the US justice system worked effectively, Donald Trump would be behind bars instead of creating mayhem in the White House.
Dave Pollard
Leicester

Marine Le Pen has just got what she asked for, quite literally. Not so long ago, she advocated total firmness against convicted elected officials: “When are we going to implement lifelong ineligibility for all those convicted of crimes committed during their term of office?” Le Pen asked on the television channel Public Sénat in 2013. And: “I have an ethic and sense of morality that I would apply to others’ corruption as I would to myself.”
Colin Leisk
Paris, France

Some politicians have decried the court’s verdict, and they dare say that they defend democracy. That’s disgraceful. No privilege for Marine Le Pen. No special treatment for her. The law is the law. The verdict would have been a political decision indeed if the court had found Marine Le Pen not guilty, yielding to the poll published recently by the Journal du Dimanche newspaper, which found that Le Pen could have won the next presidential election. Le Pen was banned from running for the election in 2027, not the RN.
Michel Gratton
St Jean de Boiseau, France