Marine Le Pen to learn if she can run for 2027 French presidency as appeal judges rule on conviction
A court verdict that matters for the political futures of Marine Le Pen and Francepublished at 11:28 BST
Tara Mewawalla
Live reporter
Image source, AFP via Getty ImagesImage caption,
Marine Le Pen has steered her National Rally to electoral success and now her fate is in the hands of the Paris appeal court
Shortly we’ll be hearing a verdict from the Court of Appeal of Paris that has huge implications for French politics.
It’s set to make a decision on whether to uphold Marine Le Pen’s embezzlement conviction. The verdict will decide whether or not she can run for the French presidency in April next year.
Le Pen, who is a figurehead of France’s hard-right National Rally party, was found guilty of embezzling European Union funds in March 2025.
She was given a four-year prison sentence, with two years suspended and two to be served with an electronic tag. Le Pen was also barred from running for office for five years.
Unless she can get her sentence overturned, Le Pen will likely not be able to stand again in the presidential election. Her appeal trial concluded in February this year.
If her sentence is reduced, for example to a two-year ineligibility rather than a five-year one, she would be able to finish serving her sentence before the presidential elections.
Image source, AFP via Getty ImagesImage caption,
National Rally President Jordan Bardella has been part of Le Pen’s team since his early twenties
But if the court bars her from running, it could bring down the curtain on her long political career as leader of France’s nationalist right, before she hands the baton to her protege Jordan Bardella.
We’ll be bringing you all the latest updates from court, analysis and reaction from across the political spectrum.
