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Marine Le Pen of France’s National Rally (RN) party arrives at a court in Paris for an appellate ruling on July 7 (local time). / Courtesy of AP, Yonhap News

Marine Le Pen declares 2027 French presidential bid despite appellate conviction

Marine Le Pen, a prominent figure in France’s right-wing populist National Rally (RN) party, officially announced her candidacy for the 2027 presidential election on July 7 (local time), forging ahead with her political ambitions despite facing a complex legal battle over a financial conviction.

"Tonight, I am declaring my candidacy for the presidential election," Le Pen said during an interview with French broadcaster TF1. "Ultimately, it will be up to the French people to make the final decision."

She confirmed that she will lodge a further appeal with the Court of Cassation, France’s highest judicial court. The filing of this high-court appeal automatically suspends the enforcement of the appellate judgment.

Le Pen's legal challenges stem from allegations that the RN systematically embezzled European Parliament funds allocated for parliamentary assistants to pay national party staff instead. On March 1, 2025, a lower court concluded that Le Pen played a central role in managing the fund diversion and handed down a five-year (60-month) ban on running for public office.

Le Pen has consistently denied all accusations against her.

In its ruling today, the Paris Court of Appeal sentenced Le Pen to three years in prison, a fine of 100,000 euros (approximately 170 million KRW), and a 45-month deprivation of eligibility to run for office. For the prison sentence, the court ordered a two-year suspended term, with the remaining one year to be served under house arrest equipped with an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet. For the political ban, the court reduced the period from 60 months to 45 months and suspended 30 months of it; it deemed that the remaining 15 months of the active ban had already been served since her initial lower-court conviction on March 31 of last year.

While upholding her guilt, the appellate court explained its sentencing rationale by noting it had "considered the freedom of voters' choice, which is a fundamental prerequisite for exercising democratic voting rights."

With the reduced ban clearing her legal path to stand in the election, Le Pen immediately launched her campaign website to kickstart her political bid.

The RN currently leads in hypothetical polls ahead of the presidential election scheduled for April next year. Le Pen, who has lost three prior presidential runs, solidified her resolve to contest the race while closely monitoring how the guilty verdict might resonate with voters.

"There is no scenario where I am not a candidate in the 2027 presidential election," she emphasized.

Le Pen had previously signaled she would not run under electronic monitoring, arguing that wearing an ankle bracelet would derail normal campaigning and damage her credibility as a candidate. However, she explained that this obstacle has been resolved because the execution of the sentence is put on hold during the Court of Cassation appeal.

The Court of Cassation has previously indicated that if an appeal is filed, it will make every effort to issue a definitive final ruling before the presidential election.

Meanwhile, Le Pen’s declaration triggered sharp backlash from political opponents. Marine Tondelier, national secretary of the Green Party, called on her to withdraw, stating, "It is entirely inappropriate for an individual convicted of embezzling public funds to run for public office."

                                                                                                           Lee Jeong-eun