Marine Le Pen announces she WILL run for President next year – just hours after being ordered to wear an electronic tag as her embezzlement conviction is upheld
Convicted criminal Marine Le Pen announced tonight that she will remain President of France next year, just hours after her embezzlement conviction was upheld.
The National Rally (RN) party veteran was a strong favorite to replace Emmanuel Macron as president.
But last year he was found guilty of embezzling more than £1 million from the European Parliament.
Today, Michéle Agi, president of the three-judge panel at the Paris Court of Appeal, said the decision was ‘upheld’.
He was also sentenced to three years in prison, two of which were suspended, and a fine of €100,000 (£85,000).
Le Pen will be able to serve with an electronic tag for the remaining year.
Despite this, the embattled 57-year-old said: ‘I wish to pursue all legal remedies available to maintain my innocence in this case.’
In an interview with French television channel TF1, he said: ‘I am a candidate in the presidential election.’
Convicted criminal Marine Le Pen (pictured) announced tonight that she will remain President of France next year
Le Pen, seen with RN president Jordan Bardella, made the statement hours after her embezzlement conviction was confirmed.
In addition to the confirmation of his conviction, He was also suspended from public office for 45 months.
However, thirty of these months will be postponed, so it is valid for one year and three months.
This includes presidential elections next May, when Mr Macron will have to resign after serving the maximum two terms allowed.
While Le Pen’s defense lawyers argued that part of the disenfranchisement period had already been served, she had previously said that she would not campaign with an electronic tag attached to her ankle.
But on TF1, he said he would take his case to the Supreme Court, now the Supreme Court of France.
Le Pen said: ‘Since I have the option of appealing to the Supreme Court (which was not the case in other scenarios) and such an appeal suspends the effects of the decision, I will therefore campaign without an electronic monitoring bracelet.’
When it was suggested this could harm her party’s chances of finding the president, Le Pen insisted: ‘I won’t change my mind.’
He was expected to hand over the National Rally presidential nomination to the party’s current 30-year-old chairman, Jordan Bardella.
But Mr Bardella said of his colleague: ‘My support is absolute and my loyalty will never waver depending on the circumstances.
French lawyer Patrick Maisonneuve, representing the European Parliament, speaks to the press in front of the Paris courthouse after the verdict was announced on July 7, 2026.
He announced his candidacy for the presidency in an interview with the French channel TF1 today.
‘Nothing can justify excluding Marine Le Pen from the choice of the French people or preventing her from standing before them.’
Le Pen was found guilty of “managing a system” aimed at diverting European Union funds from Strasbourg and Brussels to the coffers of her far-right party in Paris.
Originally called the National Front (FN), Le Pen changed the name of her party to National Rally.
Le Pen had hoped for most of his conviction to be overruled, saying he was guilty of nothing but “a mistake” for nearly 10 years.
But prosecutors said Le Pen and her late father, former FN chief and founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, were extremely sneaky.
Attorney General Stephane Madoz-Blanchet told the court: ‘Marine Le Pen, following in her father’s footsteps, was the instigator of a system that enabled the party to embezzle €1.4 million (£1.2 million).’
At the first trial in March last year, Le Pen was found guilty along with 24 others, and 12 of them unsuccessfully appealed today.
Le Pen initially accused judges and prosecutors of acting ‘politically’ in order to end their presidential ambitions.
Controversy over the trial became so heated that the trial’s chief judge received death threats and had to seek police protection.
Prosecutor Thierry Ramonatxo rubbished claims that the judiciary wanted to ‘block the rise of a party leader to the highest administrative position’.
Mr Ramonatxo said: ‘It is wrong to suggest that the judiciary can go against the will of the sovereign people. The judge is the guardian of the law and only enforces it.’
