Paris Appeals Court Rules Tuesday on Whether Marine Le Pen Can Run in 2027

A Paris appeals court is set to rule on Tuesday on whether Marine Le Pen may stand in the 2027 presidential election, with the decision described as determining whether one of France’s leading presidential contenders can run.

“Since its founding as the National Front in 1972, France's main far-right party was for a long time synonymous with its founder, Jean-Marie Le Pen”

Acento

Le Pen, 57, is appealing a March 2025 conviction that found her and other members of her National Rally party guilty of misusing European Parliament funds by paying party staff with money intended for EU parliamentary assistants between 2004 and 2016.

Acento

The lower court sentenced Le Pen to prison time, suspended pending appeal, and imposed a five-year ban on holding elected office, and the BBC said the five-year ineligibility part was declared immediately effective and not suspended pending appeal.

The BBC also said the court will rule whether to confirm, overturn or adapt the verdict and sentence handed down in March 2025, and it framed the stakes as “dizzying significance” for the presidential race.

If Le Pen is declared ineligible, the BBC said the RN’s candidate in the April-May election would automatically become Jordan Bardella, the party’s 30-year-old colleague.

Ahead of the verdict, Le Pen and Jordan Bardella pledged to work as a duo regardless of the outcome, with Le Pen telling supporters, “We will never be discouraged,” and vowing to support Bardella “every day” if the courts prevent her from standing.

Bardella, speaking during a party-organized “country banquet” in Liévin in northern France, said he reaffirmed his “full support” and “complete friendship” toward Le Pen and hoped “to see her elected president of the Republic in a few months’ time”.

AP News

The Euronews account said the RN expected at least 1,200 activists to attend the feast, though some seats remained empty, and it said Le Pen and Bardella used the event to quash rumours of dissent within the party.

Euronews also reported that the RN duo accused Jean-Luc Mélenchon of promoting a “racialist policy” and branded Gabriel Attal and Édouard Philippe as “mini-Macrons”.

AP described how the appeals court could clear Le Pen of all charges in a best-case scenario, or could find her guilty and reduce the ban on holding elected office to two years or less, which would expire before the first round of the French presidential election scheduled in April 2027.

The BBC said the key legal uncertainty is whether the court hands down an intermediate sentence, including the possibility of a two-year ineligibility that would end on 31 March 2027, just over two weeks before the first round on 18 April.

“- Published France is in a state of nervous excitement as it awaits Tuesday's court verdict that will determine whether nationalist frontrunner Marine Le Pen can stand in next year's presidential election”

BBC

Le Pen told the BBC that “A candidate needs total freedom of movement,” adding, “Can you imagine having to ask permission every time to go to a meeting or a market?” if an electronic tag were imposed alongside a reduced ineligibility.

AP said that even if a ban of two years or less expired before the first round, “Any prison sentence, electronic monitoring or other judicial restrictions could severely hamper a nationwide campaign,” and it said Le Pen suggested she would not launch a presidential bid in such a case.

AP also laid out prosecutors’ request for a heavy outcome, saying prosecutors requested four years in prison, including three suspended, and a ban on holding elected office for five years, with the appeals court free to order the ban to take immediate effect like the lower court did.

Across the accounts, the decision on Tuesday was framed as shaping France’s 2027 election path, with the BBC emphasizing that the court’s ruling could confirm, overturn or adapt the March 2025 sentence and with AP describing how Bardella could become the party’s presidential candidate if Le Pen is barred from running.