French presidential bid while fighting for Marine Le Pen gambling in court

Marine Le Pen’s decision to do two things at once is a gamble.

The leader of the far-right National Rally (RN) party is set to run for France’s presidency next year, taking advantage of an appeals court ruling to effectively lift her ban on public office.

At the same time, she is going to take her case to the Court of Appeal of France’s highest court.

Le Pen is doing this by claiming she is innocent – now that two courts have found her guilty.

She says it’s a point of principle. She does not want to present herself to French voters as someone who is guilty of a crime.

By going to Saber, her guilty plea was suspended and she was deemed innocent.

However, this is the danger.

Had she accepted the appeals court’s decision on Tuesday, it could have been interpreted as an admission of guilt — something her opponents could have done more during the election.

But it probably means Le Pen can run a regular campaign.

True, the appeals court ordered her to wear an electronic ankle tag for a year as part of her sentence. But with good behavior and regular sentence reductions, this could be reduced to a few months – in time for the campaign in 2027 to be precise.