PARIS—The riots sweeping France have rocked the country’s political establishment, but one person is positioned to emerge from the chaos with a stronger hand: Marine Le Pen.
The strategy was on display this week as Le Pen released a video address that bore the hallmarks of a president addressing the nation. The government then announced it was imposing a curfew in shopping districts and other rioting hot spots. Seated at a desk before an august bookcase and flanked by France’s tricolor flag, Le Pen cast the riots as a crisis of faith in President Emmanuel Macron’s authority. “In six months, the French people will be able to choose a different path—one of authority and restored security. “People no longer have confidence in the state to ensure their protection and meet their needs. The riots are working to Le Pen’s advantage in other ways. As the violence has flared, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the far-left firebrand running for president , has dominated headlines with his support for protesters, drowning out establishment candidates and bolstering his chances of reaching the second-round runoff with Le Pen. If he succeeds, polls show, Le Pen would beat him handily.
More than 3,000 stores were damaged or looted nationwide over the weekend, authorities said, adding that affected businesses would be eligible for state aid to temporarily pay their staff. Because of the need for stable leadership, on Monday, Macron’s office said his interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, had offered his resignation, but the president had declined it.
“Our country is caught in a vice, held hostage between violence and powerlessness,” Le Pen said. “It’s as if she’s at the office, already at the Élysée Palace,” said Adélaïde Zulfikarpasic, a pollster at the French polling firm Ipsos Bva. Le Pen’s long-running focus on law and order, Zulfikarpasic said, allows her to position herself as a guarantor of stability when democracy itself is in crisis. And she’s contrasting with that,” she said.
Le Pen has denied any wrongdoing. In July, an appeals court upheld the ruling, sentencing her to a three-year prison term, with two of the years suspended. As Le Pen approaches the final stretch of the campaign, however, she faces a legal minefield stemming from her 2025 conviction for misusing European Parliament funds.
The remaining year, judges said, could be served wearing an electronic bracelet, raising the possibility that Le Pen will have to campaign under judicial surveillance.
