France's Le Pen says she'll run for president in 2027

Former French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen announced on Tuesday she will run for president in 2027, after an appeals court shortened her ban on running for office, even as it upheld her conviction for embezzling European Parliamentary funds.

Le Pen came second to President Emmanuel Macron in both 2017 and 2022, and has been well-placed in opinion polls for next year's election.

She immediately launched her campaign website and urged voters to back her, creating an unprecedented situation in France, with a lead candidate heading to the ballot after a guilty verdict for a public funds-related offense.

"Tonight, I am a candidate in the presidential election," Le Pen said in a prime-time interview on TF1 TV, hours after the ruling. "The French will have the last word."

In March last year, the 57-year-old former leader of the far-right National Rally party received a five-year ban from holding public office after being found guilty of using parliamentary funds to pay her own party employees, rather than parliamentary assistants.

She was also given a four-year jail term, two years of which were suspended, with the other two to be served at home wearing an electronic tag — a ruling she had been seeking to overturn — to allow her a fourth run at the presidency next year.

The court fined her 100,000 euros ($114,300) but reduced her public office ban from five years to 45 months, 30 of which are suspended, and also cut the jail term to three years, two of which are suspended, and one is wearing an electronic tag.

As the ban has been running since last year's ruling, the required 15-month ban has already been served.

The appeal court said that although it had confirmed Le Pen's guilt, it had also taken into account "the voter's freedom of choice, a prerequisite for the expression of democratic suffrage".

Le Pen said she was taking Tuesday's judgment to the country's highest court, the Cour de Cassation, which has the effect of suspending the ruling, including its requirement that she wear an electronic ankle tag. She reaffirmed that she did nothing wrong.

"There is no longer any scenario in which I will not run in 2027," she said defiantly on TF1.

Le Pen followed in the footsteps of her father Jean-Marie Le Pen, the former leader of the old National Front party, as leader of the rebranded National Rally, before stepping down in November 2022, to be succeeded by 30-year-old Jordan Bardella.

She previously said she would not run for the presidency while under electronic monitoring because it would interfere with campaigning and undermine her credibility.

The National Rally had started preparing for the possibility that Bardella would be its candidate.

Reuters contributed to this story.

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