Can Marine Le Pen run in France’s 2027 presidential election? Court says yes, but with an ankle bracelet

The ruling keeps the National Rally leader in the race for the French presidency while raising fresh questions about her campaign.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen walks outside the courtroom during a short break in her appeals trial in Paris, on Jan. 20, 2026. (AP)

Written by: Anagha Jayakumar

4 min readNew DelhiJul 8, 2026 09:49 AM IST First published on: Jul 7, 2026 at 06:41 PM IST

After months of anticipation, a Paris appeals court on Tuesday (July 7) cleared the way for French far-right leader Marine Le Pen to contest the 2027 presidential election, partly overturning a March 2025 ruling that had barred her from holding public office for five years after her conviction for embezzling European Parliament funds.

While the appeals court upheld her conviction, it reduced her ban on holding elected office from five years to 45 months, two-thirds of which are suspended. It also reduced her prison sentence from four years to three, with two years suspended.

However, she is required to wear an ankle bracelet for one year. Le Pen, who had previously said she would not contest the election if forced to campaign under electronic monitoring, announced after the ruling that she would run for president and appeal to France’s highest court, a move that could suspend that part of her sentence pending a final decision.

Before Tuesday’s ruling, National Rally president Jordan Bardella, her protégé, had been widely expected to replace her as the French far-right’s presidential candidate if the ban was upheld. Le Pen’s decision to run means that scenario has, for now, been put on hold.

While Le Pen has confirmed she will run in 2027, Bardella remains widely seen as her political heir and the party’s natural successor should circumstances force another change of plans.

First, who is Marine Le Pen?

Marine Le Pen, 57, is the youngest daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the National Front, a party that was long associated with the French far-right’s most hardline politics. She took over the party in 2011 and set about broadening its appeal while retaining its nationalist and anti-immigration platform.

Under her leadership, the party softened its public image, rebranded its Euroscepticism as French nationalism, and retained the party’s traditional doctrine, “France for the French”. She has maintained the party’s anti-immigration stance while vocally opposing anti-Semitism.

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Marine expelled her father in 2015 after a public dispute over his comments about the Holocaust. Three years later, the party was renamed the National Rally, part of her effort to distance it from its past. In the 2019 European Parliament elections, it emerged as the largest French party, overtaking President Emmanuel Macron’s alliance and cementing its place as a mainstream political force.

Marine Le Pen contested the French presidential elections in 2017 and 2022, winning more than 40% of the vote against Emmanuel Macron in the latter. Although she stepped down as party president in 2022, she has remained the party’s most influential figure and was widely expected to make another bid for the presidency in 2027.

And who is Jordan Bardella?

Jordan Bardella joined the National Rally as a teenager and rapidly rose through its ranks, becoming party president in 2022 after Marine Le Pen stepped down to focus on her parliamentary role. Articulate and media-savvy, he has helped the party broaden its support, especially among younger voters, while sticking to the political strategy laid down by Le Pen.

How did the National Rally become a political force?

The party was founded in 1972 as the National Front (FN) by Jean-Marie Le Pen and other far-right activists. It spent decades on the political margins, campaigning against immigration and European integration before gradually expanding its electoral base from the 1980s onwards.

Today, the National Rally advocates tighter immigration controls, greater French sovereignty and a tougher approach to European Union rules, while framing many of its policies around purchasing power and the cost of living. It has called for stricter border controls, limits on immigration and giving French citizens priority in access to some welfare benefits and public services. While it no longer advocates leaving the European Union or the euro, it remains sceptical of deeper European integration and has argued for greater national control over policymaking and borders.

On economic issues, the party has sought to appeal to middle-class voters by promising tax cuts, lower energy costs and ways to boost household purchasing power. Under Marine Le Pen, those positions found a broader electoral audience, helping transform the party into one of France’s dominant political forces.