Marine Le Pen Declares 2027 Presidential Candidacy and Appeals Conviction
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has announced her intention to run for the presidency in 2027 and to appeal her conviction to France’s highest court regarding her sentence to wear an electronic ankle tag for embezzlement of European Parliament funds.
“Tonight, I am a candidate in the presidential election,”Le Pen, 57, stated during an interview on TF1 television on Tuesday night.
Earlier that day, a French court of appeal upheld Le Pen’s conviction for her central role in orchestrating a large-scale, long-running fake-jobs scheme. She was found guilty of embezzling over €2.8 million in European Parliament funds and funneling the money into her party in Paris between 2004 and 2016.
Although the court reduced Le Pen’s ban on running for elected office, effectively allowing her to participate in the 2027 election, it imposed a three-year jail term with two years suspended. For the remaining year, she must wear an electronic ankle tag for monitoring, which restricts the hours she can leave her home.
Le Pen, leader of the anti-immigration Rassemblement National (RN) party, had previously indicated she would not run for president if her movements were restricted by such measures.
Under France’s house arrest system, a magistrate must approve the times when a person wearing an ankle tag can leave their home, and all outings require prior authorization nationwide. Le Pen had expressed concerns that wearing the tag would prevent her from attending evening rallies and other campaign events.
However, on Tuesday night, she announced she would file a further appeal against her conviction to the Court of Cassation, France’s highest court. This appeal would effectively suspend the sentencing from Tuesday and delay the fitting of any electronic tag.
“I consider us innocent of the things we are accused of,”Le Pen told TF1, adding that she believed this would enable her to campaign freely until the two-round presidential election scheduled for April and May, even though the court may rule before then.
“The appeal to the court of cassation suspends the effects of the judgment, so I will campaign without an electronic ankle bracelet,”she said. The move, she added, would allow voters
“the last word”.
Whether the Court of Cassation will rule before the election remains uncertain. Normally, the court takes between one year and 18 months to decide on the legal basis of such convictions.
Political Reactions and Legal Background
Le Pen’s announcement drew criticism from political opponents. Manon Aubry of the radical left La France Insoumise party described the RN as
“a party of thieves and liars”.
Olivier Faure, leader of the Socialist Party, stated that Le Pen should not run, asserting that any political candidate should be
“exemplary”.He added,
“Le Pen, now, is alone with her conscience.”
Le Pen had been considered a leading contender for the 2027 presidency until last March, when following a first trial, she was barred from running for five years with immediate effect.
She appealed the verdict, and a new trial was held at Paris’s court of appeal earlier this year. On Tuesday, the court shortened her ban on running for public office to 15 months — a period she has already served — with the remaining 30 months suspended. She was also fined €100,000 (£85,000).
The appeal court confirmed Le Pen’s guilt but took into account
“the voter’s freedom of choice, a prerequisite for the expression of democratic suffrage”.
State prosecutors characterized Le Pen as the central figure in a
“thought-out”, “centralised” and almost “industrial” systemto embezzle European Parliament funds.
They explained that taxpayer money allocated to members of the European Parliament to pay their assistants in Strasbourg or Brussels was diverted by the party from 2004 to 2016 to pay its own workers in France, violating Parliament rules.
The staff employed in France had no connection to work undertaken at the European Parliament, prosecutors said. The loss to European funds was estimated at millions of euros. The party, then known as Front National, benefited from significant savings through this system, which was well documented in emails and party documents.
Le Pen’s Previous Presidential Campaigns and Constitutional Restrictions
Marine Le Pen has twice faced Emmanuel Macron in the final presidential run-off, in 2017 and 2022, increasing her vote share to over 41% in the latter election. The French constitution prohibits any president from seeking a third consecutive term.
