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People belonging to extremist organisations, including the far-right AfD party, will be blocked from taking up government positions in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, the state's interior minister has announced. Members of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party won't be able to enter public service positions in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate going forward, the state’s interior minister, Michael Ebling (SPD), announced on Thursday in Mainz. The western German state is changing the rules around recruitment for civil servants. Specifically, applicants for government positions will be required to declare that they do not belong to an extremist organisation (and have not...

Excluding candidates from standing in elections may be a legally sound option to protect democracy from anti-democratic forces. But it is an insufficient solution on its own. Romania and France have recently banned candidates from running in forthcoming elections, causing uproar domestically and internationally. While the circumstances and the reasons behind the bans are very different, the barring of candidates raises similar questions in both countries: are bans justified and, even if they are, do they harm democracy? When are election bans justified? Banning political parties or politicians on the basis of their politics is seen as a measure of...

After a few tense hours we have a definitive verdict and sentence - and it is the worst Marine Le Pen could have hoped for. She expected to be convicted, but the key question was the sentence. It is a five-year period of ineligibility which is to be carried out straight away. What this means is Le Pen cannot run in the next 2027 election - barring some legal twist of which I am completely unaware of. This of course is an earthquake. It has massive implications for her, her party and French democracy.

Paris CNN — French far-right figurehead Marine Le Pen has been banned from running for political office for five years after being found guilty of embezzling European Union funds, in a politically explosive ruling that has shattered her hopes of winning the presidency in 2027. A Paris court also handed Le Pen, who was the frontrunner for the next election, a four-year prison sentence with two years suspended, to be served under house arrest, and a €100,000 ($108,000) fine. She can appeal but the ban will stand unless overturned by another court. Her party, National Rally (RN), was ordered to...

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