This Tuesday, Marine Le Pen will learn whether she will be able to run in France’s presidential election in 2027.
The ruling by the Paris Court of Appeal is expected to be made public at 1:30 p.m. local time and could have a direct impact on the course of the presidential race.
Të lidhura
None found
Le Pen, the leader of France’s far right, has entered the presidential race three times and was defeated in the runoff by Emmanuel Macron in 2017 and 2022. Around 10 months before the election, she is leading in the polls. If she is not allowed to run, the Rassemblement National (RN) will be represented by Jordan Bardella, the 30-year-old considered her political heir.
On March 31, 2025, a court found Marine Le Pen guilty of misappropriating around 1.4 million euros from European Parliament funds.
According to that ruling, money intended for the salaries of parliamentary assistants during the years 2004-2016 was used to finance employees of her party. Le Pen served as an MEP from 2004 to 2017.
The court imposed a five-year ban on holding public office.
She was also sentenced to four years in prison, two of them suspended and two to be served under house arrest with an electronic bracelet.
According to the judges, Le Pen had approved or tolerated the scheme of fictitious jobs and was described as its central figure.
During the appeal proceedings, held in January and February of this year, Le Pen denied that she had organized the fraud, but acknowledged that “a mistake” had been made, resulting in some parliamentary assistants working “in the interest of the party.”
Prosecutors have requested that the sentence be upheld, with the five-year ban on holding public office and one year in prison with an electronic bracelet, while the other three years would be suspended.
There are several possible outcomes to the ruling expected to be announced.
If she is acquitted, Le Pen will be free to take part in the presidential election. This is considered the least likely scenario.
If the conviction is upheld and the ban on holding public office remains longer than two years, she will not be able to run in the 2027 election.
If the court decides to reduce the ban to two years or less, Le Pen will once again be eligible to enter the presidential race.
If the court grants the prosecution’s request for prison with an electronic bracelet, Le Pen will have to wear it for one year. She herself has said that a presidential candidate must have complete freedom of movement.
“When you are a candidate for president, you must be completely free to move. I cannot be dependent on a judge to allow me to hold a rally or go to a market,” she said.
Even if the appeal is rejected, Le Pen has the option of taking the case to the Court of Cassation, although such a procedure could last several months and significantly affect her campaign.
Marine Le Pen took over the far-right party in 2011, succeeding her father Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of the National Front.
She then reshaped the party, changed its name to Rassemblement National and tried to detach it from its traditional extremist image. In 2015, she also expelled her father from the party over his statements about the Holocaust.
In the 2024 parliamentary elections, RN recorded the best result in its history, securing 143 seats in the National Assembly.
Le Pen has said she does not fear the ruling, but has acknowledged that a ban on running would be “painful.”
“Whatever happens, I will not be dead. I will continue to fight for my ideas,” she said.
She has also warned that a ruling barring her from running “could prevent France from functioning democratically.”
After the ruling is announced, Le Pen is expected to give an interview on the main news bulletin on French television channel TF1.
If the courts do not allow her to run, her party will be represented by Jordan Bardella, the current RN president and one of the best-known figures of the French right.
Bardella, who turns 31 in September, has been part of Le Pen’s team since 2017 and is already considered her political successor.
Over the weekend, he said: “I want to repeat my full support and my friendship for Marine Le Pen. I am committed to seeing her become president of the Republic.”
Le Pen herself has made it clear that, if she is not allowed to run, she will support Bardella “with great energy, conviction and confidence.” Earlier, she had said that if she became president, he would be her prime minister.
