Le Pen takes appeal to top court in bid to salvage 2027 run

Marine Le Pen kept her 2027 presidential bid alive on July 7, 2026, after a Paris appeals court upheld her conviction but cut the ban on holding office to 15 months. The ruling gave the National Rally leader a path back into the race, even as the court left intact the corruption finding that had threatened to knock her out of national politics entirely.

The case dates back to a March 31, 2025 Paris court judgment that found Le Pen, the National Rally and other defendants guilty of misusing European Parliament funds in a fake-jobs scheme. Prosecutors said party staff were paid with money meant for EU parliamentary assistants between 2004 and 2016. The original sentence included a five-year ban from holding public office that took effect immediately, along with prison time and fines, making Le Pen ineligible for the 2027 race unless she prevailed on appeal.

That appeal now runs against the election calendar. The first round of France’s presidential election is scheduled for April 18, 2027, and President Emmanuel Macron cannot seek a third consecutive term. That leaves the race open in a way it would not otherwise be, which is why the court’s decision matters beyond Le Pen’s own legal fight. If the reduced ban survives, she can stay in contention; if France’s highest court restores the harsher penalty, the National Rally would be forced to look harder at Jordan Bardella or another successor.

Le Pen said she will still run in 2027 and take the case to France’s top civil court, a move that keeps the conviction alive while pushing the last legal challenge into the final stretch before the campaign. The appeals ruling also imposed a three-year prison sentence, with two years suspended and one year under electronic monitoring, adding a practical complication to any presidential campaign. The electronic ankle tag, if enforced, would shadow the candidacy even if the legal ban remains shortened.

The political risk is clear: Le Pen is asking voters to back a candidacy that could still be destabilized by the courts. Her camp gained time on July 7, but the conviction remains, the appeal is still pending, and the National Rally now has to plan for a campaign that could be rescued by the highest court or thrown back into uncertainty before France votes in April 2027.