Le Pen says she will run in 2027 after court shortens office ban
The French far-right leader is eligible for the presidential race after an appeals court upheld her conviction but reduced her ban from office.
By James Whitfield · Staff Writer
3 min read
Marine Le Pen said she will stand in France’s 2027 presidential election after an appeals court shortened a ban that had threatened to keep her off the ballot. The ruling keeps alive the far right’s strongest bid for the Elysee while leaving her campaign under legal pressure.
Le Pen told TF1 that she remained a candidate and would not reverse that decision, Al Jazeera reported. The announcement came hours after the court upheld her conviction for embezzling European Union funds but reduced the political penalty tied to the case.
Le Pen was convicted in March 2025, according to Al Jazeera. The first judgment barred her from public office for five years, while the appeals court cut that to 45 months, with 30 months suspended.
Because the ban began in March 2025, Le Pen has already served the 15-month unsuspended portion, Al Jazeera reported. She is now expected to take the case to the Court of Cassation, France’s highest civil court.
Rim-Sarah Alouane, a public law associate researcher at the University Toulouse Capitole, told Al Jazeera that an appeal could leave unresolved legal questions hanging over the campaign, including the timing of a final ruling. She said dropping the appeal would mean Le Pen would be seeking the presidency while accepting a criminal sentence.
Alouane also said the situation is unusual because Le Pen could campaign while under electronic monitoring. Even if judges allow broad travel, she said, that raises questions about how such a sentence fits with the demands of a presidential race.
Beatrice Guillemont, a legal researcher at the University of Bordeaux, told Al Jazeera that French courts took an uncommon approach by accelerating the appeal so a decision would come before the 2027 vote. She said the Court of Cassation had signalled it would also move quickly.
Le Pen’s National Rally opposes globalisation and immigration, backs tighter borders and wants fewer environmental policies, according to Al Jazeera. Le Pen, the daughter of the party’s founder, has run for president three times and lost each time.
Before the conviction, an opinion poll cited by Al Jazeera put Le Pen as high as 37 percent in the presidential race, more than 22 points above her 2022 result and 10 points ahead of any rival. The party’s support has also grown among younger voters, with the share of 18- to 24-year-olds backing the National Rally in the last parliamentary elections doubling in two years, Al Jazeera reported.
The court fight had raised the prospect that Jordan Bardella, the 30-year-old president of the National Rally, might replace Le Pen as the party’s presidential candidate. Bardella joined the party at 16, later won a seat in the European Parliament and has built a strong following among younger voters, according to Al Jazeera.
National Rally lawmaker Jean-Philippe Tanguy told BFM that Bardella remains tied to Le Pen’s political line. Alouane told Al Jazeera that Bardella has long been waiting for a leading role, but she said Le Pen remains entrenched in a party shaped by family and hierarchy.
Baptiste Colin, a 31-year-old theatre production assistant in Marseille who votes for the left, told Al Jazeera that he views Le Pen as more politically persuasive than Bardella and a greater threat. He said the left faces difficult organising work before another election in which Le Pen is on the ballot.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.