French far-right leader Marine Le Pen's political fate will be decided Tuesday when a Paris appeals court rules on whether she may be barred from running in the 2027 presidential election. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Associated Press.
If barred, her 30-year-old protege and National Rally party president Jordan Bardella would replace her on the ballot. Le Pen, 57, has challenged a March 2025 ruling that found her and other party members guilty of misusing European Parliament funds in hiring aides from 2004 to 2016. The aides allegedly worked for the party instead of doing parliamentary tasks.
If convicted again, she could face a ban on holding elected office or be required to wear an electronic tag, or both.
Key Milestones in Marine Le Pen's Career
Marine Le Pen was born on Aug. 5, 1968, in Neuilly-sur-Seine, west of Paris, the youngest of three daughters of Jean-Marie Le Pen, who later led the far-right National Front party. In 1972, Jean-Marie Le Pen founded the far-right National Front, building it around anti-immigration and nationalist policies. In the following decades, he repeatedly denied the Holocaust and was convicted multiple times of antisemitism, discrimination, and inciting racial violence.
In 1995, Jordan Bardella was born on Sept. 13 in Drancy, northeast of Paris, in mainland France's poorest region. He grew up in public housing, the son of Italian and Algerian heritage. In 2002, Jean-Marie Le Pen shocked France by reaching the presidential runoff, losing to Jacques Chirac in a landslide. This result marked the far right's emergence as a key political force. In 2011, Marine Le Pen succeeded her father as party leader.