Marine Le Pen “asked” Jordan Bardella “to prepare” for the “possibility” of being a presidential candidate of 2027 if she herself was prevented, a “hypothesis” that the leader of the national rally says she “integrated”, in an interview published on Wednesday in Values.
“I joined the hypothesis that I cannot present myself. Jordan (Bardella) joined the possibility that he should take up the torch. I myself asked him to think and prepare for this possibility,” said the deputy for Pas-de-Calais condemned at the end of March to an ineligibility sentence of five years with immediate effect.
A second trial must be held in the coming months before the Paris Court of Appeal, which said that it would make its decision “in the summer of 2026”. “Until then, I continue to fight. Of course the situation is not ideal. But what do you suggest to me? That I commit suicide before being murdered?” Asks Ms. Le Pen.
The triple unhappy presidential candidate had previously returned a bardella candidacy to the Elysée in 2027 to a purely theoretical possibility, bordering on incongruity. “If I passed tomorrow under a truck, well, (Jordan Bardella) would obviously be the person who would be intended to replace me,” she had only admitted full of irony at the end of April.
A certain float had followed between the two leaders for several weeks. Marine Le Pen had betrayed his annoyance last month, saying to himself “not sure that Jordan, suddenly, knew very well the problems of New Caledonia”, during a trip to Nouméa. From Paris, the interested party had wanted to minimize in stride, seeing a reflection according to him “out of his context” … while ensuring “very well” know, also, the overseas file. A common meeting in early June then a visit side by side last week at the Bourget show were to restore the image of a united, complementary, even interchangeable “duo”.
“Our opponents and most observers underestimate the anger that could break out in a large number of voters if I had to be prevented by justice”
But, if she could not compete in 2027, Marine Le Pen argues that the ballot would then appear “obviously” illegitimate. “I think that our adversaries and most observers underestimate the anger that could break out in a large number of voters if I had to be prevented by justice,” she said, predicting that “many French people, beyond their political convictions, would then understand that the rules of the game have been manipulated”.
In addition to the penalty of ineligibility, the Paris Criminal Court condemned Marine Le Pen to four years’ imprisonment, two of which are close, found guilty of having set up a “system” of embezzlement of public funds to pay party employees with the money from the European Parliament between 2004 and 2016, for an amount of 4.4 million euros.
