A Paris appeals court has cleared French far-right leader Marine Le Pen to potentially run in the 2027 presidential election, provided she agrees to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet as part of her sentence. The court declared Le Pen guilty of embezzlement on Tuesday but softened a previously imposed ban on her holding elected office.
The appeals court reduced Le Pen's ban on holding elected office from five years to 45 months, with two-thirds of that period suspended. Her prison sentence was also reduced from four years to three, with two years suspended. The remaining year of her sentence is to be served at home under electronic surveillance.
This decision places the ball in Le Pen's court, requiring her to decide if campaigning for the presidency with such a condition is feasible. Le Pen, 57, has previously stated that if the court imposed constraints that impede her ability to campaign freely, she might choose not to run. She is scheduled to discuss the verdict later on Tuesday.
Le Pen had appealed a March 2025 conviction related to allegations of misusing European Parliament funds between 2004 and 2016. She and other members of her National Rally party were found guilty of paying party staff with money designated for parliamentary assistants. Le Pen has maintained her innocence and expressed hopes for a fourth presidential bid.
If Le Pen decides against running due to the electronic monitoring requirement, her protege Jordan Bardella, the current president of the National Rally, is positioned to take her place. Bardella is 30 years old and leads the anti-immigration, EU-skeptic party.