Paris court upholds Le Pen conviction, clears path for 2027 run

A Paris appeals court upheld Marine Le Pen’s embezzlement conviction Tuesday and cut the five-year ban on public office that had been imposed in March 2025, leaving the National Rally leader legally able to run for France’s 2027 presidential election. The court also ordered a three-year prison sentence, with two years suspended and one year to be served under an electronic ankle tag.

The case centered on European Parliament funds meant for parliamentary assistants. The appeals court agreed the money was misused and said the conduct ran from 2004 to 2016, underscoring both the length of the scheme and the seriousness of the offenses. The ruling preserved Le Pen’s formal eligibility for the Élysée, but only under conditions she has already said she would not accept if it meant campaigning with an electronic bracelet.

That makes the next move politically sensitive for the leader of France’s main far-right party. A March 31, 2025 ruling had found Le Pen guilty and barred her from seeking public office for five years with immediate effect, setting off a legal and political crisis ahead of the country’s next presidential contest. Tuesday’s decision narrowed that punishment, but it did not erase the conviction or the optics of a candidate trying to return to the ballot under judicial monitoring.

Le Pen was expected to speak on television later Tuesday, and her appearance was set to be closely watched for signs of whether she would accept the monitoring condition, pass the decision to the party, or seek another legal route. For French voters, the case now asks whether a convicted contender can turn judicial punishment into an anti-establishment asset. For France’s institutions, it tests how far a court can go in enforcing accountability without foreclosing a leading presidential bid.