Marine Le Pen ‘wants to talk politics’, but can she drown out the legal noise?

Though appeal judges shortened Le Pen’s original ban on running for office, they ruled she wear an electronic ankle tag, effectively limiting her movements. Photograph: Michel Euler/AP

Marine Le Pen’s decision to run for French president in 2027, despite her legal woes, has drawn comparisons from her opponents to Donald Trump.

Just as the US president felt his voter base cared little about legal investigations against him, the French far-right leader shrugged off the leftwing protesters who shouted “criminal!” as she launched her presidential campaign at a market walkabout in western France on Wednesday. The previous day, an appeal court had upheld her conviction for the embezzlement of European parliament funds.