Marine Le Pen’s 2027 bid for French presidency is at stake in Paris court ruling

PARIS (AP) — French far-right leader Marine Le Pen ’s political future is on the line Tuesday as a Paris appeals court rules on her eligibility to stand in the next presidential election.

This Video Is Trending Right Now →

The verdict will be delivered from 1:30 p.m. and could take several hours to read. It could reshape the 2027 contest to replace President Emmanuel Macron if it forces the popular Le Pen out of the picture. The constitution prevents Macron from seeking a third consecutive term.

Le Pen, 57, is appealing a March 2025 conviction that found her and other members of her National Rally party guilty of misusing European Parliament funds by paying party staff with money intended for EU parliamentary assistants between 2004 and 2016.

The lower court sentenced her to prison time, suspended pending appeal, and imposed a five-year ban on holding elected office.

Le Pen has denied any wrongdoing and still hopes to mount a fourth bid for the presidency. But a verdict that upholds a lengthy ban could make that impossible and suspend her career that has transformed the National Rally into a major political force.

Such a verdict could also reverber ate on the European Union, by sidelining a fierce critic of the 27-nation bloc.

If she is barred, her protege Jordan Bardella would replace her. Bardella, 30, is the current president of the anti-immigration, EU-skeptic National Rally.

Other outcomes also are possible. The appeals court could still find Le Pen guilty but reduce the ban on holding elected office to two years or less — or impose no ban at all.

A ban of two years or less would expire before the first round of the French presidential election, scheduled in April 2027.

But that does not automatically mean Le Pen would run. She has said that if the court imposes other constraints that make campaigning difficult, she might decide not to run. That could include any prison sentence, electronic monitoring or other judicial restrictions.