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Bardella confirms 2027 presidential bid if Le Pen is barred

The front-runner Marine Le Pen may be banned from running in 2027 after being found guilty of embezzlement.

La rédaction de Mediapart

This article is freely available.

National Rally president Jordan Bardella confirmed on Saturday he will run in the 2027 French presidential election if his mentor Marine Le Pen — the three-time candidate and front-runner whose ambitions have been derailed by an embezzlement conviction — is barred from taking part, reports Politico.

“There is no ambiguity about the fact that Marine Le Pen is my candidate, but that if she was prevented [from running] tomorrow, I think I can tell you that I would be her candidate,” he told French publication Le Parisien in an interview published Saturday.

Bardella, the 29-year-old chair of the Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament, has long been seen as the heir-apparent in the National Rally but had not openly endorsed his backup role in the presidential bid until now.

Read more of this report from Politico.