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Fresh doubt over Marine Le Pen presidential bid as court orders electronic tag
Marine Le Pen arrives at the Paris courthouse on 7 July 2026 where the guilty verdict was given. Photograph: Raphaël Lafargue/Abaca/Shutterstock View image in fullscreen Marine Le Pen arrives at the Paris courthouse on 7 July 2026 where the guilty verdict was given. Photograph: Raphaël Lafargue/Abaca/Shutterstock Fresh doubt over Marine Le Pen presidential bid as court orders electronic tag Court shortens electoral ban but custodial sentence could complicate far-right leader’s campaign hopes A French court of appeal has upheld Marine Le Pen’s conviction for embezzling European parliament funds but shortened her ban on running for elected office, potentially reopening a narrow path for the far-right leader to run in the 2027 presidential race. However, the court also handed Le Pen a three-year jail term, with two years suspended and one year in which she must wear an electronic ankle tag for monitoring. This could make a presidential campaign politically and logistically difficult. Le Pen, who heads the anti-immigration National Rally (RN) party, has previously suggested she would not run if she were handed an adjusted custodial sentence in which her movements were restricted or she had to wear an electronic tag. “If I’m allowed to be a candidate but am effectively prevented from campaigning freely, then you understand that wouldn’t be possible,” Le Pen said in an interview last week. Her position was not immediately clear after the verdict. A different judge will consider at a later date the exact workings of any electronic tag or monitoring for Le Pen. The far-right figurehead, who appeared in court with allies from her party’s parliament group, is expected to consider her position and make an announcement later on Tuesday, possibly on TV news, whether she will run for France’s highest office next spring. The Paris court decided that Le Pen, 57, had played a central role in orchestrating a fake-jobs scam of unprecedented size and duration to embezzle European parliament funds and funnel the money to paying her party in Paris between 2004 and 2016. Le Pen, whose period of ineligibility to run for public office was shortened to 15 months, with the remaining 30 months suspended, was also given a €100,000 (£85,000) fine. Jordan Bardella, 30, who as party president already handles the day-to-day running of the RN, had been on standby as a potential replacement presidential candidate if Le Pen was unable to run. View image in fullscreen Jordan Bardella arrives at the National Rally headquarters in Paris before the appeal trial verdict on Tuesday. Photograph: Stéphane Mahé/Reuters Le Pen had said before the verdict that if necessary she would support Bardella, her protege, with “energy, confidence and conviction”, adding: “We never give up.” Polls in recent months have suggested that Bardella, who also heads the far-right Patriots for Europe grouping in the European parliament, could make the final-round run-off in the presidential race. Some
