A French appeals court has opened the door for far-right leader Marine Le Pen to stand in next year’s presidential election, although she would likely be confined to her home with an ankle monitor after the court upheld her conviction for misusing EU funds.
The court ruled that Le Pen must serve a three-year jail term; however, it said two of those years were suspended and it ordered her to serve one year at home with an electronic monitoring tag.
The appeals court also effectively reduced the amount of time she is barred from running for office to just 15 months – technically a 45-month ban with 30 months suspended – and gave her a €100,000 ($114,000) fine.
The ruling means that she could still run for office in France’s 2027 presidential election while wearing an electronic ankle monitor – though that would make campaigning logistically difficult and likely create political issues for her National Rally party.
Le Pen had previously ruled out standing in the election if she had to wear an ankle tag.
