Marine Le Pen launched her fourth bid for the French presidency on Wednesday, seizing on a Paris appeals court ruling that cleared her to run despite upholding her conviction for embezzling €2.9 million in European Parliament funds. The far-right National Rally leader appeared in the Loire Valley town of La Flèche, where she pledged to revive “France’s sovereignty, justice, security and education,” hours after the court reduced her ineligibility ban to 15 months and suspended two of her three-year sentence, leaving her under electronic monitoring for one year.

The court’s decision to allow Le Pen to stand in the 2027 election hinged on her immediate appeal to France’s highest civil court, the Cour de Cassation, which said it would rule by early April 2027—weeks before the first round on April 18. Until then, the case hangs over her campaign, with the possibility that a final guilty verdict could force her to wear an ankle monitor during the final stretch of voting. “I’m not going to spend my whole campaign analysing legal matters,” Le Pen told reporters, brushing aside questions about Tuesday’s verdict as supporters clamoured for selfies.

Reactions to her candidacy were sharply divided. In La Flèche, a longtime left-wing bastion that elected a 25-year-old RN mayor in March, some jeered “Give the money back!” and “Go to jail!” while others chanted “Marine, president!” The RN’s campaign website went live hours after the ruling, featuring a photograph of Le Pen with outstretched arms and the slogan “For France, Revival.” Her team also announced that Jordan Bardella, the 28-year-old RN president and her preferred successor, would run alongside her as a potential prime minister, though tensions between the two have grown in recent months.

Le Pen’s legal saga began in March 2025, when she was convicted of diverting EU funds to pay party staff between 2004 and 2016. The appeals court on Tuesday upheld the conviction but reduced her ineligibility from five years to 15 months, with 30 months suspended, and sentenced her to a €100,000 fine. Her decision to run defies the expectations of some in Brussels who had hoped she might step aside for a younger, more palatable figure.

The campaign is shaping up to be a referendum on the role of the judiciary in French democracy. Le Pen has framed her legal troubles as “lawfare,” portraying herself as a victim of a politically motivated establishment. Her allies in Europe, including Italy’s Matteo Salvini and former US president Donald Trump, have echoed the narrative, with Salvini comparing her to Martin Luther King and Trump calling the case a “left-wing witch hunt.” Critics argue that her candidacy risks normalising corruption, noting that she was convicted not for her political views but for misusing funds belonging to French taxpayers.

Polls currently place Le Pen as the front-runner, but her legal cloud could deter moderate voters she would need to win a runoff. The two-round system means centre voters may ultimately face a choice between two extremes in April 2027, potentially paving the way for a far-right victory.

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What does Le Pens presidential bid mean for relationship with Bardella? French hard-right leader Marine Le Pen has decided to run for president despite her conviction on embezzlement charges and she is counting on her political heir Jordan Bardella to run alongside her, casting him as her future prime minister. But how aligned are Marine Le Pen and Bardella? Do they think alike? Increasingly, the answer is no and the number of issues they express differences on is growing.

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