Yes, she will:  Marin Le Pen confirms presidential bid

The three-time candidate for President of France's interview was broadcast on TF1 on Tuesday evening.

The Paris appeals court earlier on Tuesday upheld a guilty verdict against the three-time presidential hopeful over a fake jobs scam at the European Parliament that diverted more than 2.8 million euros (more than $3 million) in EU funds.

The court banned her from standing for public office for 45 months, with 30 months suspended. She has effectively served the unsuspended part of the sentence, as the lower court imposed a five-year ban with immediate effect just over 15 months ago.

That means Le Pen is eligible to run in the 2027 presidential election.

Will she run?

Le Pen left the courtroom without speaking to reporters.

"This evening, I am a candidate in the presidential election," she said, ending uncertainty over whether she would run for the top job for the fourth time in elections viewed as her party's best ever chance to win the presidency,"she said on the evening news.

It banned her from office for 15 months and sentenced her to one year under house arrest to be served with an electronic tag, throwing into doubt whether she would be able to campaign unhindered.

She has previously said that she would not run while serving a sentence under electronic monitoring, arguing that it would interfere with campaigning.

But the 57-year-old veteran politician on the evening news said she would appeal that decision with the country's highest court, which would automatically suspend that decision.

"The appeal to the court of cassation suspends the effects of the judgement, so I will campaign without an electronic ankle bracelet," she said.

A lower court in March last year had initially sentenced her to a five-year ban from public office, quashing her ambitions to succeed outgoing centrist President Emmanuel Macron in next year's polls.

15-month ban

Backdated to March 2025, the new 15-month ban from office expired this year, clearing the way for Le Pen to run in polls set for April and May 2027.

But it was not immediately certain if she would run after she said last week she would withdraw if wearing a tag prevented her from campaigning and pass the torch to her 30-year-old lieutenant Jordan Bardella.

Guilty of misusing funds

The appeal court upheld the lower court's March 2025 ruling that Le Pen and other members of her party, then known as the National Front, used European Parliament funds intended for parliamentary assistants to pay for party staff between 2004 and 2016.

The appeal court agreed that the funds had been misused.

"The offences are serious," presiding judge Michèle Agi said, referring to the amount of money involved and how long it went on for.

The lower court found that Le Pen played a central role in the scheme, a claim she has repeatedly rejected, but which the appeal court upheld.

Of the ten other people who appealed alongside Le Pen, she received the largest fine and was the only one who received a prison sentence that was not fully suspended.

Reduced sentence

Even if the ban were lifted, Le Pen could still choose not to run, if she were subject to a prison sentence electronic monitoring, and she has suggested she would do this.

“If I am allowed to be a candidate but am effectively prevented from campaigning freely, then you understand that would not be possible,” Le Pen told LCI television on Wednesday.

"I cannot be dependent on a judge to authorise me to go hold a campaign rally... or to visit a market.”

If the appeal court upholds the whole sentence, Le Pen could take the case to the Court of Cassation, although it is unclear whether it would suspend the sentence pending a final ruling.

Preparing all possibilities

Their political opponents are preparing to face whichever of the two leads the National Rally into the election.

“You don’t choose your opponents, you fight them,” government spokesperson Maud Bregeon told Franceinfo on Monday.

“I fight the National Rally of Jordan Bardella, of Marine Le Pen and of all of its elected representatives, because I believe they are pursuing an extremely dangerous project that would suffocate the country – a project that narrows horizons, that isolates, whoever leads.”

Former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe, who is leading the polls as the frontrunner against the National Rally, has taken the same position.

The hard-left France Unbowed leader Jean-Luc Melenchon said Sunday he was convinced he could “eliminate” the National Rally, perhaps even in the first round of the election, whether the candidate was Le Pen or Bardella.

Socialist party leader Olivier Faure was among leftists who said Le Pen should not run next year, as any candidate should be "exemplary".

"Le Pen, now, is alone with her conscience," he said.

President Macron, visiting Syria on Tuesday, said he would not comment on a court decision.

\ Sorces: RFI, TF1