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Marine Le Pen will remain a candidate for France’s 2027 presidential election despite an earlier verdict that confirmed her conviction for embezzling of EU funds, the leader of the National Rally announced on French TV channel TF1.
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“Tonight, I am a candidate for the presidential election,” Le Pen told the channel, adding that she would refer her case to France’s highest court, the court of cassation. **”**I want to pursue all available avenues of appeal so that I can defend my innocence in this case.”
Le Pen made clear that the appeal to the Court of Cassation would overturn the first-instance ruling which sentenced her to four years in prison, two of which were commuted to wearing an electronic monitoring device, a ban from running for office for five years and a €100,000 fine.
Le Pen’s comments are expected to dispel initial uncertainty over the National Rally leader’s political future after a Paris appeals court on Tuesday upheld her 2025 conviction for embezzling EU funds but also allowed her to run in the 2027 presidential election.
On Tuesday, the court handed the three-time presidential candidate three years’ imprisonment, including one year to be served “at home under electronic monitoring,” a €100,000 fine and 45 months of disqualification from holding public office, 30 months of which were suspended. Her time wearing the bracelet was cut down to one year.
Earlier, she had indicated she would not campaign with a bracelet on as it would impact her ability to move around the country. On Tuesday, she struck a more defiant tone.
The judges decided to reduce the initial five-year period of ineligibility imposed on her in 2025, which had prevented her from running for office. The verdict meant that she was sentenced to an effective 15-month period of ineligibility, a penalty she has already served as a result of the immediate enforcement of the 2025 judgment.
In a statement issued after the verdict, the judges said they had taken “voters’ freedom of choice” into account when determining the ban.
The Court of Appeal also upheld the convictions of the eleven co-defendants of Le Pen who had appealed.
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