Fresh doubt over Marine Le Pen presidential bid as court orders electronic tag
Source: The Guardian
A French court of appeal has upheld Marine Le Pen’s conviction for embezzling European parliament funds but shortened her ban on running for elected office, potentially reopening a narrow path for the far-right leader to run in the 2027 presidential race.
However, the court also handed Le Pen a three-year jail term, with two years suspended and one year in which she must wear an electronic ankle tag for monitoring. This could make a presidential campaign politically and logistically difficult.
Le Pen, who heads the anti-immigration National Rally (RN) party, has previously suggested she would not run if she were handed an adjusted custodial sentence in which her movements were restricted or she had to wear an electronic tag.
...
Her position was not immediately clear after the verdict. A different judge will consider at a later date the exact workings of any electronic tag or monitoring for Le Pen.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/07/marine-le-pen-doubt-presidential-election-electronic-tag-france
The party has a young president, Jordan Bardella, 30, who could believably be their candidate instead. But given the conservatism of their supporters, they might not be so enthusiastic about a young man not from the Le Pen family. But she could run anyway and play up the "martyr" angle, since they'll also happily believe it's all an establishment conspiracy, blah blah blah.