Le Pen to run for French presidency despite court-ordered monitor after embezzlement conviction

Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/le-pen-to-run-for-french-presidency-despite-court-ordered-monitor-after-embezzlement-conviction Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Le Pen to run for French presidency despite court-ordered monitor after embezzlement conviction World Jul 7, 2026 2:41 PM EDT PARIS (AP) — Far-right leader Marine Le Pen says she'll run for the French presidency next year despite being sentenced Tuesday to wear a court-ordered electronic monitor for embezzlement. The decision by the 57-year-old veteran of three presidential races sets up a fourth campaign like no other: potentially seeking votes while subject to the monitoring and a judge's determination of how, and for how long, the punishment is applied. Le Pen said she will appeal the ruling to France's highest court and that the process will suspend the sentence that she wear the monitor for a year. "I will therefore campaign without an electronic bracelet," she said in a television interview Tuesday night. "Tonight, I am a candidate for the presidential election." The appeals court ruling cleared the way for Le Pen to run again by shortening a ban handed down by a court last year that kept her from seeking public office for five years. But the appeals court also said she must wear an electronic monitor. Le Pen previously said that campaigning while wearing one wouldn't be possible. But she made clear Tuesday night that she now believes that she won't be subjected to monitoring at all, and that she'll be vindicated in her appeal to the Cour de Cassation. "My hands are clean," she said. The Court of Cassation prevously said it would be able to rule before the presidential election. Its first round is in April. The appeals court ruled that Le Pen oversaw years of misuse by her National Rally party of European Parliament funds by paying staff with money intended for European Union parliamentary assistants. She had denied criminal wrongdoing but said during the trial that the party had made a "mistake." Both prison sentence and ban have been shortened The appeals court upheld guilty verdicts for all 11 accused, including Le Pen and other party members. The party itself also was declared guilty. However, the court scaled back the punishments handed down by a lower court last year. From five years handed down in March 2025, the ban was cut to 45 months, with two-thirds of it suspended. Le Pen has already served 15 months of the ban, meaning that the potential obstacle is effectively removed. READ MORE: 4 things to know about Marine Le Pen's embezzlement sentence and the political impact Le Pen previously said that not being able to make a fourth run in 2027 would amount to "political death." The verdict also cut her prison sentence from four years, two of them suspended, to three years with two suspended. How often Le Pen will be allowed to go out wearing the monitor, and other details about the monitor