Paris – Marine Le Pen, a French politician under house arrest, might run for president next year after the French Court of Appeals upheld her conviction, which prevented her from holding public office for five years and sentenced her to prison for misusing European Union public funds.
Despite her conviction, Le Pen, the far-right leader of the National Rally party who appeared in the trial court last year, has recently expressed her ambition to run and succeed President Emmanuel Macron.
This appears to be a possibility for Le Pen, however she will most likely be campaigning from home while wearing an ankle monitor. 
Today, the court of appeals judged that Le Pen must serve a three-year jail term – two years are suspended. Moreover, she was ordered to serve one year under house arrest.
According to CNN, the appeals court of France reduced the amount of time Le Pen is barred from public duties to just 15 months with 30 months suspended and a payable fine of €100,000 ($114,000).
Le Pen’s banning was officiated on March 31, 2025. She had been found guilty of embezzling €1.4m (£1.2m) in European Parliament funds to pay her party employees between 2004 and 2016 through sanctioned means.
France will be going to the polls, expectedly, on May 2, 2027, holding the first round of presidential elections on April 18. The court said Le Pen can start making her sentence reduction request in January 2027.
Critics say the electronic ankle monitor will make Le Pen’s campaign logistics difficult, likely creating political issues for the party.
Le Pen herself initially ruled out running if the wearing of the ankle monitor were not ruled otherwise. “I’m not scared. If I can run, I will – as long as I can campaign,” she’s quoted as having said.
If she sticks to her decision, she will be replaced by protégé Jordan Bardella, 30.
