PARIS, July 8 — Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s far-right National Rally (RN) group in parliament, announced Tuesday that she intends to contest the country’s 2027 presidential election after an appeal court ruling partially reduced her sentence in a public funds case.

Speaking in an interview with French television channel TF1, Le Pen declared: “So tonight, I am a candidate for the presidential election.” She added that she and RN President Jordan Bardella would soon begin the party’s campaign efforts together.

Le Pen said that if the RN succeeds in winning the 2027 election, she would name Bardella as prime minister. Bardella, who took over as party president from Le Pen in 2022, has been widely viewed as her political successor.

The announcement came shortly after the Paris Court of Appeal confirmed her conviction for misusing public funds while reducing the penalties imposed on her. Le Pen said she would challenge the ruling before France’s highest court, the Cour de Cassation.

The appeals court maintained the finding that Le Pen had improperly used European Parliament funds to pay parliamentary assistants who were deemed to have performed party-related work rather than legitimate European parliamentary duties.

Under the revised ruling, Le Pen received a three-year sentence, including a two-year suspended term and one year to be served under electronic monitoring. She was also fined 100,000 euros (114,000 U.S. dollars) and handed a ban from holding public office for 45 months, with 30 months of that restriction suspended.

The original ruling issued in March 2025 had imposed a longer period of ineligibility, including an immediate five-year ban from public office. Following the appeal decision, Le Pen remains legally eligible to seek the presidency in 2027.

Under French law, Le Pen has 10 days to appeal to the Cour de Cassation. Reports indicate that because the appeal court did not make the sentence immediately enforceable, a further appeal would suspend implementation of the ruling until a final decision is reached.