French court opens door to Le Pen presidential run, with ankle tag
A French appeal court on Tuesday upheld Marine Le Pen’s conviction for misusing EU funds but shortened her ban on running for public office, in theory preserving a path for the far-right leader to run in the 2027 presidential election.
However, the court also sentenced Le Pen to a three-year jail term: two suspended and one with an electronic ankle tag. This would make a presidential campaign politically and logistically difficult, and casts doubt on whether she will in fact continue to seek France’s highest office.
Le Pen has previously said she would be reluctant to wage a presidential campaign while serving a sentence under electronic monitoring, arguing that it would interfere with campaigning and undermine her standing as a candidate. But she is yet to confirm what she will do.
“When you’re a presidential candidate, you need to be completely free to move around,” she said last week in a televised interview.
“I can’t depend on a magistrate to allow me to go to a rally.”
She is due to give a prime-time TV interview on TF1 at 8pm , in which she may make an announcement on her political future.