French far-right leader Marine Le Pen's political future is on the line as a Paris appeals court rules on her eligibility to stand in the 2027 presidential election. If she's barred, she would be replaced by her 30-year-old protégé Jordan Bardella, the current president of the National Rally party. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Associated Press.
Bardella is no carbon copy of Le Pen. The most obvious difference and possibly the most important is that Bardella isn't called Le Pen. That name is anathema for a large number of French voters, particularly on the left, because Marine Le Pen inherited it from her father Jean-Marie Le Pen. His opponents loathed his far-right politics and multiple law-breaking outrages, including Holocaust denial.
If the appeals court ruling on Tuesday bars Le Pen from next year's election, Bardella is ready to step in. He has already started to try on her mantle for size.