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Le Pen's political fate hinges on opening of appeals court

2026-01-13 12:54:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

An appeal hearing by French far-right politician Marine Le Pen begins Tuesday against a ruling that banned her from running for public office for five years.

Le Pen, 57, was found guilty last year of embezzling EU funds and, if the ban is upheld, she will not be able to run in the 2027 presidential election. She insists she has committed no wrongdoing.

Ahead of the appeal, the president of her party, the National Rally, Jordan Bardella, said that barring her from the election would be "deeply disturbing for democracy."

Bardella said he will not run for president next year, but will instead seek the lower post of prime minister.

The case at the Paris Court of Appeal will last until February 12, but a decision is not expected before the summer, well before next year's presidential elections.

Last year's case centered on allegations that Le Pen, along with more than 20 other senior party figures, hired assistants who worked on her RN party's affairs instead of working for the European Parliament, which paid them.

The judge, Bénédicte de Perthuis, said Le Pen had been at the "heart of the system" that saw the embezzlement of 2.9 million euros in European funds.

Le Pen was sentenced to four years in prison, with two years suspended, and the remaining two will be served with an electronic tag instead of in custody. She was given a fine of 100,000 euros (£82,635) and banned from running for public office "with immediate effect".

If she loses her appeal, she could face an even longer prison sentence. More than 20 figures were also found guilty in last year's trial, and the party was ordered to pay a fine of 2 million euros, with half of the amount suspended.

Eleven of Le Pen's colleagues are participating in the Paris appeal, but 12 of them have decided not to challenge the initial rulings, including her sister, Yann Le Pen, who was sentenced to a year in suspended prison.

Le Pen hopes the appeals court will overturn the first-instance court's decision and give her the opportunity to run for France's highest office for a fourth time.

A second possible outcome would be for the appeals panel to uphold the guilty verdict but remove the “immediate effect” clause. That would allow her to run even if she decided to appeal to the country’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, to overturn the guilty verdict.

A third outcome could see appeal judges shorten the five-year ban enough to enable Le Pen to register by the March 2027 deadline.

And a fourth would be to leave the decisions of the Court of First Instance intact. This would make it almost impossible to run, although she would still be expected to take the case to the Court of Cassation.

With presidential elections expected to be held around April 2027, much will depend on the content as well as the timing of decisions.

The far-right leader has reached the runoff stage twice and many of her supporters think she has a chance of winning if she is allowed to run next year.

However, an opinion poll, published by the newspaper Le Monde on the eve of the appeal, suggested that her protégé, Bardella, may have a better chance of winning - 49% versus 18% for Le Pen./CNA, translated by the BBC