Far-right leader Marine Le Pen to run for president of France

by · UPI

July 8 (UPI) -- Marine Le Pen said Wednesday that she plans to run for president again after having her sentence reduced.

Le Pen, the leader of France's far-right National Rally party, began campaigning Wednesday alongside her protégé, Jordan Bardella.

"We're both entering this presidential campaign," Le Pen told reporters in La Flèche, near Paris. On Tuesday, she said in a TV interview that they would run on a joint ticket, with Le Pen as president and Bardella as prime minister.

The ruling on Tuesday shortened her ban on holding public office from five years to 15 months, and with time served, she will be eligible by the April 2027 election. But the court still found Le Pen guilty of embezzlement for diverting funds away from the European parliament. She said she still plans to appeal to France's highest court, the Court of Cassation.

While she appeals, her sentence will be put on hold, meaning she can campaign without electronic monitoring.

Had Le Pen not been able to run, Bardella was planning to run for president with her blessing.

At the announcement in La Flèche, Bardella was quiet and stern-faced, Politico reported. He said that he was "extremely happy" to be campaigning again and that "millions of French people are waiting for change."

He told reporters he was "neither relieved nor disappointed" that Le Pen would be the candidate instead of him. "We will continue to work hand-in-hand, just as we always have," he said.

Polls in France had said Bardella had a better chance of winning than Le Pen, Politico reported.

Le Pen promised that she would appoint Bardella prime minister if she becomes president. In France, presidents can appoint prime ministers, but they don't usually run political campaigns together.

Gabriel Attal, a former prime minister hoping to run as a centrist, said, "Her candidacy is hanging by a legal thread," The Guardian reported. He said Le Pen had taken the campaign "hostage."

Socialist Member of Parliament Boris Vallaud called her a "delinquent," The Guardian reported.

"She's a delinquent who was convicted in a first trial [in 2025] and then on appeal."

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