Electric starter for an internal combustion engine, more particularly a starter for an internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle, this starter comprising: - a starter drive assembly able to move between a rest position and an active position in which the starter drive assembly is capable of starting the internal combustion engine, - an electric motor capable of driving the starter drive assembly in rotation about an axis of rotation, - a control lever arranged to move the starter drive assembly axially, the control lever being capable of pivoting about a pivot pin, this pivot pin being movable over a predetermined linear travel (Ja) from a rest position to a lever-pressing position into which the lever can pivot to bring the starter drive assembly into the active position, this control lever comprising at least one pad arranged to cooperate with the starter drive assembly, - a contactor arranged so as to enable, when the ignition key of the vehicle is turned, an electromagnet to cause a mobile core of the contactor to move, which core pulls the control lever backwards, this lever being connected to the core by an articulation, the pad having a shape arranged to obtain a lever ratio of the control lever acting on the starter drive assembly, which ratio is constant or increasing over at least a portion of the movement of the starter drive assembly from the rest position to the active position, the lever ratio representing the ratio b/a between distances a and b, "a" being the vertical projection of the distance between the pivot axis and the articulation and "b" being the vertical projection of the distance between the pad and the pivot pin, the starter drive assembly comprising a guideway in which the pivot pin of the control lever can move in translation, characterized in that during operation of the starter and if the starter drive assembly should become jammed in the active position, in particular if the starter drive assembly should become jammed in a ring gear of the internal combustion engine, the electrical power to the electric motor of the starter is cut off by the movement of the pivot pin from its lever-pressing position toward its rest position and by the movement of the pad relative to the starter drive assembly in an opposite direction to the movement of the pivot pin from its lever-pressing position to its rest position. - a starter drive assembly able to move between a rest position and an active position in which the starter drive assembly is capable of starting the internal combustion engine, - an electric motor capable of driving the starter drive assembly in rotation about an axis of rotation, - a control lever arranged to move the starter drive assembly axially, the control lever being capable of pivoting about a pivot pin, this pivot pin being movable over a predetermined linear travel (Ja) from a rest position to a lever-pressing position into which the lever can pivot to bring the starter drive assembly into the active position, this control lever comprising at least one pad arranged to cooperate with the starter drive assembly, - a contactor arranged so as to enable, when the ignition key of the vehicle is turned, an electromagnet to cause a mobile core of the contactor to move, which core pulls the control lever backwards, this lever being connected to the core by an articulation, the pad having a shape arranged to obtain a lever ratio of the control lever acting on the starter drive assembly, which ratio is constant or increasing over at least a portion of the movement of the starter drive assembly from the rest position to the active position, the lever ratio representing the ratio b/a between distances a and b, "a" being the vertical projection of the distance between the pivot axis and the articulation and "b" being the vertical projection of the distance between the pad and the pivot pin, the starter drive assembly comprising a guideway in which the pivot pin of the control lever can move in translation, characterized in that during operation of the starter and if the starter drive assembly should become jammed in the active position, in particular if the starter drive assembly should become jammed in a ring gear of the internal combustion engine, the electrical power to the electric motor of the starter is cut off by the movement of the pivot pin from its lever-pressing position toward its rest position and by the movement of the pad relative to the starter drive assembly in an opposite direction to the movement of the pivot pin from its lever-pressing position to its rest position.