France's Le Pen says she won't run in 2027 if appeal court orders her to wear an electronic bracelet

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PARIS (AP) — France's far-right leader Marine Le Pen said she won't run for president next year if a Paris appeals court orders her to wear an electronic bracelet over alleged misuse of European Union funds.

Le Pen said she hopes the appeals court clears her in key verdict set for July 7 — a ruling that may derail her presidential ambitions.

“I know very well that the decision regarding this candidacy isn’t mine to make,” she said Wednesday evening on news broadcaster BFM TV.

Le Pen, 57, is challenging a March 2025 verdict that found her and other members of her National Rally party guilty of misusing EU Parliament funds in the hiring of aides from 2004 to 2016 who allegedly worked for the party instead of doing parliamentary tasks.

If convicted, she could be sentenced to a ban from elected office or she will have to wear an electronic tag — or both, among other options.

“It’s in the hands of three judges who will decide whether or not the millions of French people who want to vote for me will be able to do so,” Le Pen said, following the five-week appeal trial that ended earlier this month.

“You can imagine that if the (appeals) court follows the lower court’s ruling that sentenced me to wear an electronic tag, I won’t be able to campaign,” Le Pen said.

Le Pen denies accusations that she was at the center of a fraudulent system meant to siphon off EU funds.

If allowed to run, she is widely seen as a top contender to succeed centrist President Emmanuel Macron in the 2027 election. If not, she has said her 30-year-old protege Jordan Bardella would run instead.