Le Pen says she will run for French presidency

Marine Le Pen said she will run for French president in 2027 and appeal an embezzlement conviction to France’s highest court, hours after a Paris appeals court ruled she could remain in the race while subject to an electronic tag requirement.

The National Rally leader made the announcement Tuesday in a primetime interview with broadcaster TF1, ending months of speculation over whether she would step aside in favor of Jordan Bardella, the 30-year-old president of her party.

“I am here tonight to tell you I am candidate for the 2027 elections,” Le Pen said, according to the BBC. Asked whether any scenario could lead her not to run, she replied: “No, there isn’t.”

The case centers on the misuse of 2.8 million euros, or about 2.4 million pounds, in European Union funds in what the BBC described as a fake jobs scheme. A lower court had sentenced Le Pen, 57, to a five-year ban from public office and two years in prison over the European Parliament case, Al Jazeera reported. That ruling would have barred her from the 2027 presidential race.

Tuesday’s appeals court ruling reduced the ban on Le Pen holding elected office to 45 months, with 30 months suspended, according to Al Jazeera. The remaining 15 months were expected to be backdated from the lower court’s initial verdict in March last year. The appeals court also found her guilty but ruled that she could stand for the presidency while wearing an electronic ankle tag.

Le Pen said she would take the case to the Court of Cassation, France’s top civil court. “I want to pursue all legal avenues to defend my innocence in this case,” she told French television, according to the BBC.

She had previously said several times that she would not campaign for president if required to wear a tag, saying she would not feel “totally free” to campaign. In Tuesday’s interview, she drew a distinction between the court’s sentence and the immediate effect of an appeal.

“I had indicated that I would not campaign while wearing an electronic tag,” Le Pen told TF1, according to Al Jazeera. “But since I have the option of appealing … and the government is suspending the effects of the ruling, I will therefore campaign without an electronic tag.”

She also said, “I can’t campaign with a tag,” according to the BBC.

Le Pen said her campaign would begin immediately to “begin the rebirth of France” and said she would not change her mind. If elected, she said, she would work with Bardella, with Le Pen as president and Bardella as prime minister.

“We have a solid partnership, we complement each other,” she said. Bardella had been with her for years, she added, and the party’s cause was larger than either of them. “We both have beliefs — we both imagine this role seriously. And we have character… The tests we have gone through have made us stronger, both in will and in the quality of our work together.”

Asked what would happen if her appeal to the Court of Cassation failed, Le Pen said: “We will see, and the French will be the judge, because the good news from this evening is they will be free to choose.”