The Paris appeal court upheld Marine Le Pen’s conviction for misusing EU funds but reduced her sentence, clearing the way for her to run in France’s presidential election in April 2027.
The five-year ban on holding public office has been reduced and backdated to March 2025, with the court saying it now considers the penalty has already been served.
But the leader of the hard-right National Coalition (RN) has been given a one-year term under house arrest while wearing an electronic ankle tag, but that does not necessarily stop her candidacy.
Le Pen has repeatedly said she would not run for president because she would not feel “completely free” to campaign if she had to wear an electronic tag.
She is expected to appear on national TV at 20:00 tonight (19:00 BST) to announce whether she will stick to that decision and hand the nomination over to her protégé Jordan Bardella, 30.
Marine Le Pen is leading in opinion polls with less than 10 months left. She has already run for president three times, losing twice in a row to Emmanuel Macron, who cannot run again. Macron declined to comment on the ruling.
In her final TV interview a week ago, the national rally leader informed judges and the public of the terms of her run for president.
She told news channel LCI that she would not campaign for president while she was tagged. Because “a presidential candidate needs complete freedom of movement… I can’t trust a judge to allow me to campaign or go to the market.”
The court’s response, delivered months after her appeal was heard in January and February, made it clear that the judges would not stand in her way.
They explained that they weighed the sentence of suspension from public office by considering ‘freedom to run for office’ and ‘free choice of electors’.
They said it is up to the courts to decide whether the punishment is justified, but running as a candidate and having the right to vote are part of the democratic process.
But they found Marine Le Pen guilty of embezzling funds meant for members of the European Parliament between 2004 and 2016 and using the money to pay party staff.
The fake jobs scheme was masterminded by her father, National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, but the court made clear that she continued the practice with the help of party colleagues, including members of the European Parliament.
