French far-right leader Marine Le Pen faces a ban from the 2027 election unless her conviction for misusing EU funds is overturned on appeal.
PARIS: Far-right leader Marine Le Pen is battling to overturn a graft conviction that threatens her long-sought bid for the French presidency.
The National Rally (RN) president was banned from standing for office for five years following her conviction last year for misusing European Union parliament funds.
The ban would disqualify her from the 2027 presidential election, which analysts view as her best chance for victory after three previous failed attempts.
Le Pen, 57, has accused prosecutors of seeking her “political death” and called herself a “political target”.
She took over the party leadership from her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, in 2011 and later renamed it from the National Front to distance it from his openly racist legacy.
Her strategy of “de-demonisation” helped the RN become the largest single party in the National Assembly after the 2023 snap legislative elections.
Critics, however, maintain the party is inherently racist and was slow to distance itself from Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.
Le Pen has denied all allegations of corruption and racism, focusing her campaign on immigration and cost-of-living concerns.
With her candidacy in doubt, she has endorsed her 30-year-old protege, party chief Jordan Bardella, as a potential replacement.
“Bardella can win instead of me,” Le Pen told La Tribune Dimanche in December.
A November poll predicted Bardella would win the second round of the 2027 election regardless of his opponent.
Le Pen’s political life has been profoundly shaped by her complex relationship with her father, whom she expelled from the party in 2011.
She described his death last year as plunging her into grief and said the expulsion caused him “immense pain”.
“I will never forgive myself,” she said, calling the decision one of the most difficult of her life.
