A Paris appeals court ruled on Tuesday that Marine Le Pen can legally run in the 2027 presidential election, after reducing her initial five-year public office ban to 45 months.
The appellate judges upheld her conviction for embezzling European Union funds but adjusted her overall sentence to three years in prison, with two years suspended.
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The remaining one-year prison term must be served at home under electronic surveillance, creating logistical and political hurdles for her potential campaign.
Le Pen, who has denied all wrongdoing, previously indicated that wearing a monitoring device would severely impede her ability to canvas the country effectively.
"When one is a candidate for the presidency, one must be completely free in their movements, and that is not the case if you are wearing an electronic bracelet," she stated in a recent interview.
The judicial decision stems from a March 2025 conviction where she was found guilty of systematically misusing 1.4 million euros from the European Parliament between 2004 and 2016 to pay domestic party employees.
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If she ultimately decides against running due to the home-detention restrictions, leadership of the National Rally party will likely transition to its current president.
"Nothing can justify Marine Le Pen being excluded from the choice of the French people and prevented from presenting herself before them," wrote Jordan Bardella, President of the National Rally, in a statement.
Le Pen is scheduled to address her political future and clarify her candidacy status during a televised interview on the TF1 network at 8 p.
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m. local time.
