Marine Le Pen's sentence softened and she will be able to run for president of France in 2027
The Paris Court of Appeal softened the sentence of the French far-right politician Marine Le Pen in the case concerning parliamentary assistants of the "National Front" party. This was reported by Le Figaro and Le Monde.
The court sentenced Le Pen to three years in prison, one of which she will serve under house arrest with an electronic bracelet. She was also given a 45-month ban on holding public office, of which 30 months are suspended.
The court recognized that the politician has already served 15 months of this ban, counted from March 31, 2025 — the date of the first guilty verdict.
Thus, there are no longer any legal obstacles for Marine Le Pen to participate in the 2027 presidential elections.
Earlier, the Paris Criminal Court sentenced the politician to four years in prison, two of which she was to serve under house arrest with an electronic bracelet, as well as a five-year ban on holding public office with immediate effect. Because of this, she was forced to resign as a departmental councilor of Pas-de-Calais, although she retained her parliamentary mandate thanks to parliamentary immunity.
According to French media, before the appeal court's decision, Le Pen stated that she did not consider it possible to conduct a presidential campaign while under house arrest with an electronic bracelet. In that case, she could have ceded the nomination to the party president Jordan Bardella. It is expected that the politician may announce her position regarding participation in the elections soon.
The sentence was issued against Marine Le Pen, eleven other defendants, and the "National Rally" party (formerly "National Front"). The court noted that the punishment in the form of a ban on holding elected positions was determined taking into account the principles of freedom of candidate nomination, free choice of voters, and democratic expression of will.
In addition to the main punishment, Marine Le Pen must pay a fine of 100,000 EUR. The "National Rally" party was fined 2 million EUR, of which 1 million EUR is conditional.
At the same time, the politician still has the right to appeal the Court of Appeal's decision to the Court of Cassation of France.
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