Marine Le Pen was found guilty, but if she wore a tag, the court called for a presidential election.

A Paris appeals court upheld Marine Le Pen’s conviction for misusing EU funds but commuted her sentence, paving the way for her to run in France’s April 2027 presidential election.

The five-year ban from public office was reduced and postponed to March 2025, and the court said the sentence had now been served early.

However, the leader of the far-right National Rally (RN) was given a year under house arrest while wearing an electronic ankle tag, although this did not stop her from running.

Le Pen has repeatedly said she would not run if she had an electronic account because she does not have “absolute freedom” to campaign.

She announced on a national television show tonight at 20:00 (19:00 BST) whether she would go ahead with the decision – or hand over her candidacy to her guardian Jordan Bardella, 30.

Marine Le Pen leads the polls with less than 10 months to go. She ran for president three times, losing twice to Emmanuel Macron; I can never compete again. Macron declined to comment on the verdict.

The leader of the National Rally, in her last televised interview a week ago, informed the judges and the general public of her condition to run for president.

She told news channel LCI that she won’t campaign for president wearing a tag because “when you’re a presidential candidate, you have to have total freedom of movement… I can’t rely on a judge to tell me to campaign or go shopping.”

The court’s response, which came months after the appeal was heard in January and February, made it clear the judges were not standing in her way.

He explained that he weighed the punishment of not being eligible for public office with “freedom of candidacy” and “free election”.

In a later statement, he added that it was up to the court to assess whether the punishment was proportionate. They say the right to run for office and vote was part of the democratic process.

But you have accused Marine Le Pen of embezzling funds intended for members of the European Parliament from 2004-16 and using the money to pay party workers.