French Court Clears Way For Far-Right Leader Le Pen To Run In 2027

PARIS (AP) — A Paris appeals court on Tuesday cleared the way for popular far-right leader Marine Le Pen to run for France’s presidency next year, but said she must wear an electronic bracelet after finding her guilty of embezzling public funds.

Le Pen had previously said that it would not be possible to campaign with a bracelet. But in light of the decision, which his lawyer described as a partial victory, he now has the option to change his mind.

“This is a good start,” said lawyer Rodolphe Bosselut.

The court ruled that Le Pen led to the misuse of European Parliament funds by the National Rally Party by paying party staff for EU parliamentary assistants. He denied any criminal wrongdoing but said the party had made a “mistake”.

The appeals court upheld the guilty verdicts against all 11 defendants, including Marine Le Pen, other party members and the party itself. However, the decision reduced the sentences imposed on him and other defendants by the lower court last year.

This, crucial to his presidential ambitions, reduced the ban on holding elected office. Since the five-year transfer in March 2025, the ban has been reduced to 45 months and two-thirds of this period has been postponed. The potential obstacle to a fourth presidential run has now virtually disappeared, as Le Pen has completed 15 months of the ban since the first decision last year.

The decision also resulted in the suspension of the prison sentence. Last year was four years, two of which were postponed. There are now three years, two of which have been postponed.

Still, the remaining year of her prison sentence, which will be spent at home with an electronic bracelet, remains a potential hurdle, and it is not yet clear whether Le Pen will be able to campaign on that condition.

Le Pen, 57, left the courtroom without addressing the waiting television cameras. But he is expected to share his thoughts in an evening television interview later Tuesday.

Before the decision, Le Pen said she might decide not to run if the court imposed restrictions that would make campaigning difficult. This could include electronic monitoring, he said.

“You understand that if I am allowed to run for office but am effectively prevented from campaigning freely, that will not be possible,” Le Pen said in an interview last week.

If he decides he can’t run with the bracelet, his protégé, Jordan Bardella, will replace him. Bardella, 30, is the current chairman of the anti-immigration National Rally party, formerly led by Le Pen.

From the courthouse, Le Pen went to the headquarters of the National Rally in Paris, where Bardella had been seen earlier in the day. The party faces a potentially difficult decision as to which of the two will be best positioned to run in 2027.

Bardella, a member of the European Parliament, has no experience and this will be his first presidential election campaign. However, although Le Pen is an experienced name, the bracelet creates uncertainty about how effective a campaign she can run. This, and his embezzlement conviction, would also leave him open to criticism from potential election rivals.

Le Pen’s party embezzled 2.8 million euros ($3.2 million) by using European Parliament funds to pay its own party staff, chief judge Michèle Agi said in her ruling on Tuesday.

“The facts are serious,” the judge said.

The judge was expected to spend several hours reading the entire decision. But instead the hearings were completed surprisingly quickly, in less than an hour.

As the judge spoke, the unair-conditioned courtroom became uncomfortably hot; In Paris, the temperature rose above 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit). Table fans provided a gentle breeze.

Prosecutors had asked the appeals court to sentence Le Pen to four years in prison, three of which are suspended, in addition to a five-year ban from serving in elected office.

Associated Press journalists Nicolas Vaux-Montagny in Paris and Samuel Petrequin in London contributed to this report.