French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has announced her intent to run for the French presidency in 2027, shortly after being mandated to wear an electronic monitoring device due to her conviction for embezzlement.
Expressing her inability to campaign while wearing the electronic tag, Le Pen, the head of National Rally, stated in an interview on French TV that she will exhaust all legal options to assert her innocence in the matter.
Earlier on the same day, a Paris appeals court granted permission for Le Pen to enter the presidential race next year but stipulated the condition of the electronic tag following her embezzlement conviction involving public funds.
This decision marked a reduction in the previous ban imposed by a court, which prevented her from pursuing any public office for five years.
Le Pen indicated her intention to challenge the ruling at France’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, emphasizing that the appeal process would temporarily suspend the requirement to wear the electronic tag for a year.
Anticipating a resolution before the upcoming presidential election in April, the Court of Cassation assured a timely review of the case.
The appeals court determined that Le Pen oversaw a prolonged misuse of European Parliament funds by her National Rally party, specifically by remunerating employees with funds designated for European Union parliamentary assistants. While denying any criminal culpability, she acknowledged the party’s error during the trial.
All 11 defendants, including Le Pen and other party members, were upheld guilty by the court. Moreover, the party itself was found culpable in the embezzlement case.
Despite maintaining the guilty verdicts, the court reduced the penalties from the previous lower court ruling.
The ban preventing Le Pen from seeking public office was reduced from five years to 45 months, with two-thirds of the term being suspended. With Le Pen already serving 15 months of the ban, the obstacle to her candidacy has essentially been lifted.
Furthermore, her prison sentence was decreased from four years, with two years suspended, to three years, with two years suspended.
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