Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s far-right movement, received a mixed welcome Wednesday as she took her presidential campaign to the streets of La Fleche, a small town in western France’s Loire Valley — just one day after an appeals court ruled she could still run despite confirming her criminal conviction.
As Le Pen worked the crowd at a local street market, some bystanders shouted “Give the money back!” and “Go to jail!” while others rallied behind her with chants of “Marine, President!” — a vivid snapshot of the deep divisions her candidacy is stirring across the country.
On Tuesday, the Paris appeals court upheld Le Pen’s March 2025 conviction for misappropriating European Parliament funds to pay staff members of her party. However, the court reduced the length of her ban from seeking public office, clearing the path for her campaign.
At 57, Le Pen has made three previous bids for the French presidency. Her anti-immigrant party, the National Rally, currently leads opinion polls, giving her a renewed push toward what would be a historic win as France’s first far-right president in modern times.
The appeals court had also ordered Le Pen to wear an electronic ankle tag for one year — a requirement that would have forced her to return home each night during the campaign. However, Le Pen announced she is taking the case to France’s highest court, and that appeal has temporarily suspended the ankle tag requirement.
Le Pen’s political protégé, 30-year-old Jordan Bardella, had been prepared by the National Rally to serve as the party’s candidate in her place. Now that Le Pen is back in the race, she has said that if she wins the presidency, Bardella will serve as her prime minister.
Bardella joined Le Pen in La Fleche on Wednesday — a town that has traditionally leaned left but elected a 25-year-old National Rally mayor, Romain Lemoigne, back in March. Supporters eagerly sought photos with Le Pen, with one exclaiming, “Marine, you’re the best!”
Le Pen appears to be drawing a parallel to former U.S. President Donald Trump, banking on voters setting aside her legal troubles and focusing instead on her promise to strengthen French sovereignty.
Her campaign team had already unveiled a new website earlier in the day, featuring an image of Le Pen with arms outstretched on a stage and the slogan: “For France, Revival.”
Speaking to reporters in La Fleche, Le Pen explained the meaning behind that message, saying it stood for “the revival of education, the revival of the justice system, the revival of security for our fellow citizens, the revival of control over our borders, and the revival of our sovereignty.”
Polling analyst Adélaïde Zulfikapasic of BVA pollsters said she believes Le Pen will likely advance to the second-round runoff of the presidential election, scheduled for May 2, due to her strong and loyal voter base.
“There is a degree of ambivalence among French voters: when asked which qualities they most want in a president, they point to honesty and probity. In practice, however, they tend to be less demanding,” Zulfikapasic said.
Still, the analyst noted that Le Pen’s bigger challenge will be expanding beyond her existing supporters, and that the guilty verdict could make winning over new voters more difficult.
Officials at France’s highest court, known as the Cour de Cassation, have previously indicated they aim to issue a ruling in early 2027, ahead of the election. If that court upholds Tuesday’s judgment, Le Pen could be required to wear the electronic monitoring device during the final stretch of her campaign.
