Marine Le Pen found guilty, but court clears way for presidential run if she wears tag

The Paris appeal court has upheld Marine Le Pen's conviction for misusing EU funds but shortened her sentence, clearing the path for her to run in the April 2027 French presidential election.

A five-year ban on holding public office has been reduced and backdated to March 2025, and the court said it now considered the penalty had already been served.

However, the leader of the hard-right National Rally (RN) has been given a one-year term wearing an electronic ankle tag under house arrest, although that would not necessarily stop her running either.

Le Pen has said repeatedly she would not run for president if she had to wear an electronic tag as she would not feel "totally free" to campaign.

She is expected to announce whether she will stick with that decision in a national TV appearance tonight at 20:00 (19:00 BST) - or hand her candidacy to her protege, 30-year-old Jordan Bardella.

Marine Le Pen leads the opinion polls with under 10 months to go. She has run for the presidency three times already, and has lost twice in a row to Emmanuel Macron, who cannot run again. Macron has declined to comment on the verdict.

In her last TV interview a week ago the National Rally leader signalled her conditions for running for president to the judges as well as the broader public.

She would not campaign for the presidency while wearing a tag, she told news channel LCI, because "when you're a presidential candidate you need to have total freedom of movement… I can't rely on a judge to allow me to hold a campaign rally or go to a market".