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Paris Court Upholds Le Pen Conviction, Shortens Ban
The ruling allows Marine Le Pen to seek the French presidency in 2027 despite a shortened ban and requirement to wear an ankle bracelet. An Ifop poll shows her leading early first-round projections at 36 percent.
Jul 12, 4:05 AM·1m read1 source
The IndependentAudio version
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The Paris appeals court on Tuesday upheld Marine Le Pen’s embezzlement conviction while shortening the electoral ban that had threatened her candidacy for the French presidency. The 57-year-old leader of the National Rally party can now run in the election scheduled for 18 April 2027, with a possible second round in May. Le Pen must wear an ankle bracelet for the next ten months of campaigning.
She told LCI she would not campaign while wearing the tag, stating she needs total freedom of movement and cannot rely on a judge to approve rallies or market visits. Le Pen stated there was no longer any scenario in which she would not run. An Ifop survey for LCI and Le Figaro this week placed her at 36 percent in a hypothetical first-round vote, ahead of Édouard Philippe at 19 percent and Jean-Luc Mélenchon at 15 percent.
Emmanuel Macron cannot run again after two consecutive terms. Le Pen still depends on a final ruling from France’s supreme court, the Cour de Cassation. Jordan Bardella, 30, succeeded Le Pen as RN leader in 2022.
The party has suggested a legal retirement age between 60 and 62, while Bardella has floated scrapping a fixed legal retirement age. An RN MP told Le Monde last month that pension reform was the party’s “explosive issue”, causing “internal paralysis”.
” Dr David Lees, reader in French Studies at the University of Warwick, said a figure with a strong leadership track record such as Édouard Philippe will prove a difficult obstacle to overcome.
Dr Emile Chabal, a specialist on contemporary French politics at the University of Edinburgh, said Le Pen still lacks vote transfers and suffers from a credibility deficit. Dr Pierre Purseigle, reader in Modern European History at the University of Warwick, said a significant part of her electorate will not care about the verdict, but it exposes the hypocrisy of a candidate who long railed against politicians’ corruption.
