Appeal court upholds Le Pen conviction but opens door to 2027 presidential bid

The appeal court banned Le Pen from standing for public office for 45 months, with 30 months suspended. She has effectively served the unsuspended part of the sentence, as the lower court imposed a five-year ban with immediate effect just over 15 months ago.

That means Le Pen is eligible to run in the 2027 presidential election. However, she has previously said that she would not run while serving a sentence under electronic monitoring, arguing that it would interfere with campaigning.

In addition to a €100,000 fine, the appeal court sentenced Le Pen to three years in prison, with two years suspended and one year to be served with an electronic monitor.

Will she run?
Le Pen left the courtroom without speaking to reporters and is due to appear on the 8pm evening news on TF1 television, where she may announce whether she intends to run.

Her lawyers said the ruling was a "considerable shift" from the lower court, particularly on the eligibility to stand for office.

Outside the courtroom, lawyer Rodolphe Bosselut said the presiding judge had referred to "the freedom for voters to have a candidate".

The National Rally must now decide if Le Pen should take up the challenge or step aside and allow party president Jordan Bardella to become its presidential candidate.

On Saturday, Le Pen threw her support behind Bardella, and opinion polls have shown that both are strong contenders.

Guilty of misusing funds
The appeal court upheld the lower court's March 2025 ruling that Le Pen and other members of her party, then known as the National Front, used European Parliament funds intended for parliamentary assistants to pay for party staff between 2004 and 2016.

The appeal court agreed that the funds had been misused.

"The offences are serious," presiding judge Michèle Agi said, referring to the amount of money involved and how long it went on for.

The lower court found that Le Pen played a central role in the scheme, a claim she has repeatedly rejected, but which the appeal court upheld.

Of the ten other people who appealed alongside Le Pen, she received the largest fine and was the only one who received a prison sentence that was not fully suspended.

Louis Aliot, the party's vice president, was also found guilty. He received a one-year suspended prison sentence and a two-year suspended ban on standing for public office, allowing him to remain mayor of Perpignan.