Twice-convicted criminal Marine Le Pen remains the favourite to become the next President of France – despite being ordered to wear an electronic tag

Twice-convicted criminal Marine Le Pen remains the strong favorite to become the next French president, an opinion poll shows.

Le Pen, 57,’s conviction for embezzling millions from the European Parliament was upheld by appeal court judges in Paris last week; Many expected this decision to lead Le Pen to abandon her fourth bid for the Elysee Palace.

But the far-right National Rally leader said he would continue his efforts to replace incumbent Emmanuel Macron, as a poll this weekend showed he had the upper hand in the first round of voting.

The Elabe poll, conducted for French broadcasters BFM TV and La Tribune Dimanche, suggests that Le Pen, with 34 percent of the votes, could easily make it to the second round in next year’s elections.

The poll puts her closest rivals at 14 to 16 percent, suggesting Le Pen will win head-to-head against far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon with more than 67 percent support.

Edouard Philippe, Macron’s centrist and prime minister from 2017 to 2020, will win 48 percent of the vote and lose in a runoff against Le Pen, according to the poll.

Le Pen confirmed on Tuesday that she would run for president after the court’s decision and would appeal the latest ruling to France’s highest court.

“The campaign starts tonight,” he told French television, adding that he would “pursue all legal means” to fight the embezzlement conviction.

Le Pen was found guilty again last week of misusing €2.8 million (£2.4 million) in EU funds as part of a bogus jobs scheme.

He was first convicted in March last year after the court found that he used European Parliament funds to pay salaries to his own party staff rather than parliamentary assistants between 2004 and 2016.

During the trial, the prosecution argued that the recruited officials rarely set foot in the European Parliament and did not play an active role there.

Among the employees was Le Pen’s personal assistant, Catherine Griset, who worked at the parliament building for only 12 hours between August 2014 and October 2015.

Le Pen has denied the plan was organised, but has previously described it as a ‘mistake’.

He was sentenced to four years in prison after being found guilty last year; Two years of this were postponed and two years were to be shot at home with an electronic tag.

He was also banned from participating in elections for five years.

Data shows Le Pen will defeat both far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon and centrist Edouard Philippe

Although the appeals court again found him guilty of misappropriating funds on Tuesday, it ruled that he could run for president by wearing the label.

This order has been suspended until the new appeal reaches a decision, which is likely to be early next year; Presidential elections will be held in April, and a second round is planned for May.

Before last week’s decision, Le Pen had repeatedly said she would not feel ‘completely free’ to campaign because she would not run for president if she had to wear the label.

There was speculation that he would hand over his National Rally nomination to the party’s 30-year-old president, Jordan Bardella.

But he said the campaign to ‘launch the rebirth of France’ would begin immediately and that he would not change his mind.

Le Pen was expected to give the National Rally nomination to party chairman Jordan Bardella, 30, if her appeal was not successful.

Mr Bardella said his support for Le Pen was ‘absolute’, adding: ‘My loyalty never wavers, depending on the circumstances.’

Sunday’s positive poll strengthened the possibility of a convicted criminal entering the Elysee Palace for the first time.

Marine Tondelier, leader of the French Greens, said Le Pen would drop out of the presidential race in a ‘normal world’ where the National Rally had ‘even the slightest shred of decency’.

Ms Tondelier added: ‘After being thus convicted of embezzlement of public funds, no one can properly stand for election, even if he remains eligible.’