PARIS — June 26, 2025: Marine Le Pen, France’s far-right leader and three-time presidential candidate, has signalled a potential handover of the political torch to her protégé, Jordan Bardella, for the 2027 presidential elections.
This comes in the wake of her conviction for embezzlement, which currently bars her from running for office for the next five years.
In an interview published Wednesday with the conservative weekly Valeurs Actuelles, Le Pen said she had “accepted the possibility” that she may not be able to contest the next presidential election.
“Jordan has accepted the possibility that he may have to take up the torch,” she stated, referring to 29-year-old Bardella, the current president of the National Rally (RN) party.
The development follows Le Pen’s March conviction by a French court over a long-running case involving the misuse of European Parliament funds.
She and several senior party figures were found guilty of creating fake parliamentary assistant jobs to funnel EU funds to party operatives in France. The ruling carried a five-year ban from holding public office, effectively jeopardising her plans for a 2027 run.
Le Pen, 55, has strongly denounced the court ruling as a “political decision” and part of a broader “witch hunt” against her and the RN. She has filed an appeal, with the Paris appeals court expected to make a final decision by summer 2026. If the appeal succeeds or her sentence is reduced, she could still mount a campaign.
“Until then, I will continue to fight,” Le Pen vowed in the interview, while acknowledging the legal cloud hanging over her candidacy. She warned that barring her from standing could inflame tensions and erode public confidence in France’s electoral system.
“Many French people, regardless of their political convictions, would then understand that the rules of the game have been manipulated,” she said.
Bardella, who led the RN to a resounding victory in the recent European Parliament elections, is widely viewed as Le Pen’s political heir. Speaking to Le Parisien in May, he indicated his readiness to step in if Le Pen is disqualified.
“There is no ambiguity… If she was prevented from running tomorrow, I think I can tell you that I would be her candidate,” he stated.
This is a marked shift from Le Pen’s earlier comments in April, when she dismissed the idea of Bardella as a presidential candidate unless she was “hit by a truck.” The growing clarity around Bardella’s role suggests that the RN is beginning to prepare for a post-Le Pen era, even if reluctantly.
With President Emmanuel Macron constitutionally barred from seeking a third term, and centre-right former prime minister Edouard Philippe the only major figure to declare his candidacy, the political landscape for 2027 remains uncertain.
Le Pen’s 2022 performance marked her strongest ever showing, with over 13 million votes in the runoff against Macron. Whether she or Bardella will carry the RN banner in 2027 now hinges on the outcome of her legal appeal.
Until then, the National Rally is bracing for a potential generational shift — one that could define the future of France’s far right.
