Marine Le Pen's Appeal: Will trial torpedo far-right leader's presidential hopes?

5 days ago 11

Big stress test for the West’s rules-based order or will French judges take it all in stride.

Opening day of Marine Le Pen’s appeal against a corruption conviction that for now bars the far-right frontrunner from the 2027 presidential race. With the verdict expected in July, that’s getting awfully close to Election Day. The National Rally leader and her supporters have branded the case lawfare, a political vendetta.

Recently, she voiced her support for another convicted politician - Nicolas Sarkozy who became the first former president to serve jail time since the end of World War Two. In a new book, he too cries that the fix is in, a message broadly amplified by right-wing media echo chambers.

What are the facts of the case where 24 others have been convicted for funneling EU parliament staff funds back home to the mother ship? Do said facts matter? Is France like the United States - which denies plans to pressure the judges in the Le Pen case. And what about her party’s plan B? Could voters simply turn the page on the scion of a far-right family and happily elect her number two Jordan Bardella as France's first far-right president since Nazi occupation?

Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Daniel Whittington, Ilayda Habip, Charles Wente