Billionaire Elon Musk on Wednesday, July 15, expressed support for far-right French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, who has decided to run despite a conviction in a fraud case.
“She is France’s last hope”, he wrote on the social network X to his 240 million followers, sharing her photo. While Musk has previously supported Le Pen, this marks the first time he has done so since her official return to the presidential race to compete for the head of state position after the term of centrist President Emmanuel Macron ends.
International support and reaction
Musk has also previously backed the far-right party AfD in Germany and Romanian far-right candidate Calin Georgescu.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot appeared to urge Musk to reconsider his support, stating, “As we say in French: only fools do not change their minds”.
Le Pen’s campaign and legal challenges
The anti-immigration party of Marine Le Pen, “National Rally” (RN), views this as its best chance to win the highest office in the country after 10 years of Macron’s rule.
She launched her fourth presidential campaign earlier this month, just hours after an appeals court upheld her conviction for misusing European Parliament funds. On appeal, she was sentenced to a 15-month ban from holding elected office—which she has already served—and to a one-year term under electronic monitoring. However, Le Pen has decided to buy time by appealing her sentence to France’s highest court.
Source: Le Monde
