{"id":751121,"date":"2026-07-08T19:54:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T19:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/751121\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T19:54:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T19:54:12","slug":"with-le-pen-sentencing-frances-presidential-election-veers-into-the-extraordinary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/751121\/","title":{"rendered":"With Le Pen sentencing, France’s presidential election veers into the extraordinary"},"content":{"rendered":"

PARIS — PARIS (AP) \u2014 France<\/a> already faced one of the world’s most important elections next year. Now it has one of the more unusual.<\/p>\n

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen<\/a> \u2019s decision to run for the presidency for a fourth time means that someone found guilty not once but twice<\/a> of embezzling public funds will campaign to lead the European Union<\/a> \u2019s largest nation.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, a Paris appeals court cleared a path<\/a> for the 57-year-old Le Pen to run by shortening a ban on seeking public office<\/a> that had spelled possible doom for her ambitions. Opponents now know who they\u2019ll be up against in the election less than 10 months away.<\/p>\n

She’s using the latest twist in her legal saga to fortify her story of a combative politician who is taking on the system in the interests, she says, of France.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer argument is essentially this: \u2018Despite all the obstacles and all the ordeals I\u2019ve been through, I\u2019m still standing, I\u2019m still running. I entered politics to carry this national project for France through to the end,’\u201d said Luc Rouban, a senior researcher at Paris\u2019 Sciences Po school of political sciences who studies Le Pen’s National Rally party.<\/p>\n

While the Paris appeals court reduced both the ban and the prison sentence that judges handed down last year, it still ordered that she must serve a year of home detention, with her whereabouts monitored electronically.<\/a><\/p>\n

The punishment conjured up the prospect of a candidate hoping to lead France stumping for votes with an electronic tag on her ankle.<\/p>\n

Whether that will happen is unknown. By declaring Tuesday that she\u2019ll challenge the ruling to France’s highest court, Le Pen bought time. The court said Wednesday that the process will suspend the sentence that she be electronically monitored, at least until it has ruled.<\/p>\n

When the Court of Cassation will rule is unclear. It said Wednesday the process should conclude before the election’s first round in April, with the knockout round in May.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will therefore campaign without an electronic bracelet,\u201d Le Pen declared.<\/p>\n

Should she win \u2014 far from certain, despite polls suggesting she’s one of France’s most popular politicians<\/a> \u2014 she would benefit from the legal immunity that comes with the presidency. That rules out any possibility of an electronic monitor while in office.<\/p>\n

But electronic monitoring, if still required then, could come back into the picture after the presidency, said Julien Jeanneney, a professor of public law at the University of Strasbourg.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn practice, however, one could imagine that a judge might decide not to require a former president of the Republic to resume wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet \u2014 particularly if the sentence had already been substantially served before” the election, he said.<\/p>\n

Critics and potential election rivals argue that her embezzlement conviction would make her ethically unfit for the presidency.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not normal,\u201d said Bernadette Flament, a 73-year-old resident of a village close to a campaign stop on Wednesday. \u201cA president who governs, who will govern France, who has been convicted, is unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

After multiple scandals involving lawmakers and ministers, polls consistently show French voters want higher ethical standards in public life and are highly critical of what they perceive as politicians\u2019 dishonesty.<\/p>\n

Last year, Nicolas Sarkozy became the first former French president in modern history<\/a> to go to prison after he was found guilty of criminal conspiracy. He was made to wear an electronic monitor for three months.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a strong public expectation on this issue,\u201d Rouban said. \u201cMarine Le Pen may try to play down her conviction, but the fact remains that she has been convicted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Le Pen announced that she’ll campaign as a \u201cduo” with protege Jordan Bardella<\/a> \u2014 which to American ears may sound like the Trump-Vance or Biden-Harris tickets in the last U.S. presidential election.<\/p>\n

Le Pen, a veteran of three presidential campaigns and daughter of five-time presidential candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen<\/a>, brings experience. The 30-year-old Bardella, president of their populist, anti-immigration National Rally party, is popular with Gen Z, with larger followings on Instagram and TikTok.<\/p>\n

In France, it\u2019s a break with tradition for candidates to double-team a presidential election. Le Pen says Bardella would be her prime minister if she wins. They campaigned together Wednesday.<\/p>\n

But unlike in the United States, French voters only choose one leader in the presidential election. The choice of prime minister is the president\u2019s alone and no law would oblige Le Pen to pick Bardella.<\/p>\n

The pairing could appeal both to National Rally supporters and to \u201cnew swaths of voters attracted by Bardella\u2019s youth, communication style and apparent pragmatism, more anchored on the right and more amenable to business interests,” said C\u00e9lia Belin, who specializes in French politics at the European Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank.<\/p>\n

“By running as a \u2018ticket,\u2019 they hope to keep this large electoral base,” she said.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP journalist Alex Turnbull in La Fl\u00e8che, France, contributed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PARIS — PARIS (AP) \u2014 France already faced one of the world’s most important elections next year. Now…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":751122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,2302,1070,85470,793,451,3,111,452,453,965],"class_list":["post-751121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-courts","tag-elections","tag-embezzlement","tag-general-news","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=751121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/751122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=751121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=751121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=751121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}