Marine Le Pen is already fighting a losing battle. With the second round of the French presidential election coming up, opinion polls have already all but ruled her out of victory. In a poll taken by the Telegraph newspaper, it predicted Le Pen would win 39.8% per cent of the vote, compared to 60.2% of her rival, Emmanuel Macron. It is as a result of this that things just needed to go her way as she attempts to claw back support.
But it has not. It was revealed yesterday by the Express newspaper that the National Front Party (Le Pen's party) have been accused of "defrauding" the European Parliament of at least 5 million euros.
The effect
Although the party has denied the allegations, what will it do to her chances of winning the election? The thing is about scandals, it is irrelevant if true or not. What is relevant are the words 'scandal' and 'National Front' that will be reported. That is all that the electorate will be thinking about. Scandals can kill political campaigns and it seems like this will happen again.
What will be?
Le Pen was already, as I said, onto a losing battle. With all her rivals effectively ganging up on her to ensure that she is not elected, what this recent revelation will do is remove any doubt that existed before of her winning the election. It is a shame for her, but I do not think there will be any tears shed by the rest. Although it is not mathematically over, Le Pen has now another mountain to climb. We shall see what happens.