French Court Clears a Path for Le Pen to Run for Office With Ankle Monitor but Upholds Conviction

A French appeals court has opened the door for far-right leader Marine Le Pen to stand in next year’s presidential election, although she would likely be confined to her home with an ankle monitor after the court upheld her conviction for misusing EU funds.

The court said the misappropriated public funds amounted to €2.8 million ($3.2 million). It ruled that Le Pen must serve a three-year jail term; however, it said two of those years were suspended and it ordered her to serve one year at home with an electronic monitoring tag.

The appeals court also effectively reduced the amount of time she is barred from running for office to just 15 months – technically a 45-month ban with 30 months suspended – and gave her a €100,000 ($114,000) fine.

The ruling means that she could still run for office in France’s 2027 presidential election while wearing an electronic ankle monitor – though that would make campaigning logistically difficult and likely create political issues for her National Rally (RN) party. The first round of voting will be held in April and a second round in May.

Le Pen had previously ruled out standing in the election if she had to wear an ankle tag.

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The 2027 race was already shaping up to be one of the most uncertain and consequential in recent French history even before the appeals process froze, for more than a year, the question of whether the woman widely considered a favorite would be able to run at all.

Four other RN politicians who served in the European Parliament were also convicted of the misappropriation of public funds by the appeals court on Tuesday, and other defendants were found guilty of complicity or of receiving property through the misused funds.

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Le Pen was originally barred from public office on March 31, 2025, when a Paris court found her and other RN members guilty of embezzling European Parliament funds to pay the party’s staff in France, rather than the intended parliamentary assistants. The initial ban on her running for public office was for five years and, controversially, took effect immediately before any appeal could be heard.

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Bardella confirmed that he would stand in Le Pen’s place if necessary, even as he called for her to be able to challenge for the presidency. This year, he published a book laying out his vision for France, titled, “What the French Want.” With his youth and a powerful presence on TikTok (he has 2.3 million followers), he’s not a political prospect to be written off.

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