Marine Le Pen announces she WILL run for President next year - just hours after being ordered to wear an electronic tag as her embezzlement conviction is upheld

By PETER ALLEN and PERKIN AMALARAJ, FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER Published: 20:27, 7 July 2026 | Updated: 20:32, 7 July 2026 Convicted criminal Marine Le Pen has tonight announced she will still stand to become President of France next year, just hours after her embezzlement conviction was upheld.  The National Rally (RN) party veteran had been a strong favourite to replace Emmanuel Macron as head of state. But last year she was found guilty of embezzling the equivalent of more than £1million from the European Parliament. Today, Michéle Agi, the president of a three-judge bench at the Court of Appeal of Paris, said the verdict 'was upheld'. She also handed down a prison sentence of three years, with two suspended, and a fine of €100,000 (£85,000). Le Pen will be able to serve the remaining year with an electronic tag. Despite this, the embattled 57-year-old said: 'I want to pursue all available legal avenues to defend my innocence in this case.' In an interview on French TV channel TF1, she said: 'I am a candidate in the presidential election'. Convicted criminal Marine Le Pen (pictured) has tonight announced she will still stand to become President of France of France next year Le Pen, seen with RN president Jordan Bardella, made the announcement hours after her embezzlement conviction was upheld On top of her conviction being upheld, she was also suspended from seeking public office for 45 months.  But thirty of these months will be suspended, meaning a year and three months is effective. This covers next May's presidential election, when Mr Macron will be forced to stand down having served the maximum two terms allowed. While Le Pen's defence lawyers argued that part of the period of ineligibility had already been served, she had previously said she would not campaign with an electronic tag on her ankle. But on TF1, she said she will now take her case to the Court of Cassation - France's Supreme Court. Le Pen said: 'Since I have the option to lodge an appeal with the Court of Cassation, which was not necessarily the case in the other scenarios, and because such an appeal suspends the effects of the ruling, I will therefore campaign without an electronic monitoring bracelet.' When it was suggested that this might damage her party's chances of delivering a president, Le Pen insisted: 'I will not change my mind.'  She was expected to hand over her National Rally presidential candidature to Jordan Bardella, the current 30-year-old president of the party. But Mr Bardella said of his colleague: 'My support is absolute, and my loyalty will never waver based on circumstances. French lawyer Patrick Maisonneuve, representing the European Parliament, talks to the press outside the Paris courthouse after hearing of the verdict on  July 7, 2026  She announced her run for the presidency today in an interview with French channel TF1 'Nothing can justify Marine Le Pen being excluded from the French people's choice or prevented from standing before them.' Le Pen was found guilty of 'running a system' aimed at siphoning European Union funds away from Strasbourg and Brussels into the coffers of her far-Right party in Paris. Initially called the National Front (FN), Le Pen changed the name of her party to National Rally.  Le Pen hoped to see much of her conviction nullified, saying she was guilty of nothing more than 'a mistake' over some 10 years. But prosecutors said Le Pen and her late father, former FN chief and founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, had both acted in an extremely devious manner. Attorney general Stephane Madoz-Blanchet told the court: 'Marine Le Pen was the instigator, following in her father's footsteps, of a system that enabled the party to embezzle 1.4 million euros (£1.2million).' The first trial in March last year found Le Pen guilty along with 24 others, and 12 appealed today, but failed. Le Pen originally accused the judges and prosecutor of acting 'politically' in an attempt to end her presidential ambitions. Debate around the trial became so heated, that the main trial judge received death threats, and had to receive police protection. Prosecutor Thierry Ramonatxo rubbished claims that the judiciary wanted to 'block a party leader's ascent to the highest executive office'. Mr Ramonatxo said: 'To suggest that the judiciary could oppose the will of the sovereign people is inaccurate. A judge is the guardian of the law and merely applies it.'