FOR OVER half a century, a member of the Le Pen family(法国极右翼政治家族) has stood at every French presidential election bar one(除了一次以外). Then, after a court in 2025 banned Marine Le Pen, the leader of the populist-right(民粹右翼) National Rally (RN), from running for elected office for five years, it had looked as if the presidential vote next year would mark the end of a dynastic era.(看起来总统投票将标志着一个王朝时代的终结。)
半个多世纪以来，勒庞家族的成员几乎参加了每一次法国总统选举。2025年，一家法院判决禁止民粹右翼政党国民联盟的领袖玛丽娜·勒庞在五年内参选公职，这使得次年的总统投票似乎将标志着一个王朝时代的终结。
But on July 7th, in an unexpected twist(意外转折), the court of appeal in Paris upheld(维持（原判）) Ms Le Pen’s conviction for the misuse of European Parliament funds for party ends(滥用欧洲议会资金为政党谋利)—yet lightened her sentence(减轻了她的刑罚), freeing her to run(使她得以参选). Hours later Ms Le Pen announced that she, not Jordan Bardella, her 30-year-old lieutenant(副手，助手), would make a bid for(争取，竞标) the presidency after all(毕竟，终究).
但在7月7日，巴黎上诉法院出现了一个意外转折：它维持了勒庞女士因滥用欧洲议会资金为政党谋利的定罪，但减轻了刑罚，使其能够参选。几小时后，勒庞女士宣布，她将亲自竞选总统，而不是她的30岁副手乔丹·巴尔代拉。
The RN leader’s decision ends 15 months of uncertainty, and sets France up for(使法国面临) a highly unusual(极不寻常) election. In its ruling, the court of appeal handed her a three-year jail sentence; two are suspended(缓期执行), and one is to be served with an electronic ankle tag(电子脚镣). Crucially for Ms Le Pen, the court also shortened her ban(缩短了禁令期限) and ruled that she had already served the ineligibility penalty(剥夺资格处罚).
国民联盟领袖的决定结束了15个月的不确定性，并使法国面临一场极不寻常的选举。上诉法院的判决书判处她三年监禁；其中两年缓刑，一年以佩戴电子脚镣的形式执行。对勒庞至关重要的是，法院还缩短了禁令期限，并认定她已经服完了剥夺资格的惩罚。