As the judge read out the verdict in Marine Le Pen’s appeal trial for embezzlement, the same conversation was playing out in living rooms and WhatsApp groups across France. What? Does this mean she can run for the Élysée after all? But what about the prison sentence? And the electronic tag (which Le Pen had promised she would not campaign wearing)? And what about her protege Jordan Bardella?

For a few hours, it looked as though the court of appeal had unexpectedly played a masterful hand by unequivocally upholdingthe far-right National Rally (RN) figurehead’s conviction for misappropriation of public funds. It handed her a fine of €100,000 (£85,000) and a commuted prison sentence, the remaining year of which would be served by Le Pen being electronically tagged.

The courts, accused by the RN and its supporters of meting out politically motivated verdicts after her original conviction in March 2025, seemed, crucially, to have found a way of confirming Le Pen’s guilt while protecting the judiciary from the charge of thwarting voters’ democratic rights. The court of appeal achieved this by shortening the original five-year ban on Le Pen running for electoral office, which would in effect have eliminated her from next year’s presidential race.

The judges found that Le Pen was at the heart of an elaborate fake jobs scam, and sentenced her to prison. Yet in clearing the way for her to run, they also protected the right of voters to elect a convicted felon to the French presidency. The impartiality of the justice system and the rule of law were preserved; the ball was back in the political court, and in Le........

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