A French court reduced right-wing presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen’s ban from office to a period, allowing her to run for president in 2027 but requiring her to wear an ankle bracelet, a condition she says would bar her from running.
Le Pen was sentenced in March 2025 to four years in prison — two suspended — and a five-year ban on running for office, over her National Rally party’s alleged embezzlement of European Union funds. The Paris Court of Appeals on Tuesday shortened the ban on running for office to 45 months, with 30 of those suspended and the remaining 15 months backdated to her March 2025 sentence. Her prison sentence was reduced to three years, with two suspended and one in house arrest, during which she will be required to wear an ankle bracelet.
The last condition means she would have to campaign for the 2027 presidency while wearing an ankle bracelet, a condition Le Pen has openly said would prevent her from running.
“If it is a matter of allowing me to run as a candidate while effectively preventing me from campaigning with complete freedom, you will surely understand that that is not possible,” she said last week.
“When you are a presidential candidate, you must be completely free to move about,” Le Pen continued, adding that she cannot depend on a magistrate to authorize her where she can hold a rally.
The three-time presidential candidate can request that the electronic bracelet sentence be reduced to six months, which would clear her to run a fourth time.
Le Pen’s lawyer, Rodolphe Bosselut, struck an optimistic tone after the ruling, saying he was “partially” happy with the decision and calling it a “good start.”
The ruling extends the uncertainty over who the ascendant RN will run for president in 2027. After Le Pen’s ban from office, the young, charismatic upstart Jordan Bardella had become the heir apparent and looked set to be the party’s 2027 candidate. Awkwardly for Le Pen, her chosen successor is now polling higher than she is, and many of the party’s supporters view him as a better candidate to run for the best chance of victory.
Bardella, for his part, has remained publicly deferential and supportive of Le Pen. The day before the hearing, he released a lengthy post of solidarity on X, expressing his devotion and support for her.
“Tonight, I want to publicly tell her again what I tell her in life: my support is total, and my loyalty will never depend on circumstances,” he said. “I do not forget to whom I owe having found the path of commitment. And I do not forget the battles that we promised each other to fight together.”
“To you, Marine, I simply want to say this: you could count on me yesterday, you can count on me today, and you will be able to count on me tomorrow. Together, for all the French people, until victory,” Bardella added.
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Le Pen has likewise expressed her support for Bardella in recent days and projected a united front, portraying her and her mentee as interchangeable.
“Jordan and I’ve been working collectively for years. Now we have an awesome friendship, nice belief in one another,” she said, pointing to her faith in Bardella’s political talent since he first stepped into politics at 19 years old. “He has by no means betrayed that belief. He has at all times met each problem entrusted to him with brilliance, vitality, conviction, and experience.”