Marine Le Pen, leader of France's National Rally party, has announced her candidacy for the 2027 presidential election. The announcement comes as Le Pen seeks to appeal a recent embezzlement conviction.
In a statement, Le Pen indicated that she would pursue all available legal avenues to contest the conviction, which requires her to wear an electronic monitoring tag for one year. "I can't campaign with a tag," Le Pen stated in an interview with French television. "I want to pursue all legal avenues to defend my innocence in this case."
Earlier, a Paris appeals court found Le Pen guilty of misusing approximately €2.8 million in European Union funds through a fake jobs scheme. The court ruled that she could stand for the presidency while wearing an electronic tag, a condition Le Pen intends to challenge.