Sentenced to house arrest and hit with a four-year electoral ban, an appeals court upheld the French politician's conviction for embezzling European Parliament funds, but reduced her ban on running in a public office to just 15 more months.

Ms Le Pen told TF1 television: “Tonight, I am a candidate in the presidential election", ending uncertainty over who would lead the party into next year’s contest.

The 57-year-old added that she would appeal the ruling by the Paris appeals court, which earlier found her guilty of misusing €4.3million (£3.7million) in public funds at the European Parliament between 2004 and 2016.

The three judges reduced her five-year ban from public office to 45 months, 30 of which are suspended.

Ms Le Pen's 15 months of ineligibility since her first conviction in March 2025 expire almost to the day of the upcoming vote, making her eligible to stand in April 2027.

The remaining year of her sentence is to be served under an electronic surveillance tag, along with a €100,000 (£87,000) fine - although the tag cannot be applied until the result of her appeal to the Court of Cassation.

Ms Le Pen said: “As I have the option to appeal to the Court of Cassation - which was not necessarily the case in other scenarios - and as the Court of Cassation’s jurisdiction suspends the effects of the judgment, I will therefore campaign without an electronic tag.

“I will not change my mind. I want to exhaust all the legal remedies available to me so that I can defend my innocence in this case.”

The EU funds were intended to finance parliamentary assistants, but she and her co-defendants were found to use the money to pay for National Rally employees instead.

Ms Le Pen consequently denied guilt and lodged an appeal.

The leader has transformed the National Rally from a controversial, fringe political movement to the largest single party in the French Parliament.

Left-wing Ensemble deputy Clementine Autain said: "Whilst the National Rally blames immigrants for all society's ills and dreams of imposing ever-harsher penalties for petty crime, it is fleecing taxpayers."

Born in 1968, Ms Le Pen was a lawyer before turning to politics.

She served as president of National Rally from 2011 to 2021 and has been a member of the National Assembly since 2017.

The youngest daughter of former party leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, she joined the National Front in 1986 and won its leadership in 2011, succeeding her father who founded the party in 1972.

She ran for the French presidency three times, finishing third in 2012, reaching the second round against Emmanuel Macron in 2017.

For the third time she ran in 2022, when she received 41.5 per cent of the vote.