By Juliette Jabkhiro and Elizabeth Pineau
PARIS, July 7 (Reuters) - A Paris appeal court on Tuesday began delivering a verdict that will determine whether French far-right leader Marine Le Pen can run in next year's presidential election.
Le Pen's presidential hopes have been in limbo since March 2025, when she received a five-year electoral ban for embezzling more than €4 million ($4.6 million) from the European Parliament. She denies guilt and appealed.
If the court upholds the ban, effectively barring the 57-year-old from making her fourth tilt at the presidency, her 30-year-old protege Jordan Bardella will become the candidate for her anti-immigrant National Rally (RN) party, the frontrunner in surveys.
On Monday evening, Bardella posted on X that "nothing can justify Marine Le Pen being excluded from the French people's choice ..."
"Whatever the next 24 hours may bring, we will continue with the same determination and the same steadfast commitment to those who rely on us."
WILL LE PEN OR BARDELLA BE FAR-RIGHT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE?
Hours before the 1:30 p.m. (1130 GMT) start of the appeal verdict, dozens of reporters queued to secure a spot in the Paris courtroom, while camera crews were packed into the corridors outside.
Le Pen has spent more than a decade transforming the movement founded by her father Jean-Marie from a fringe nationalist party into what many view as a government-in-waiting, and a decision to uphold the ban would be bitter for her personally.
But opinion polls suggest that if she has to step aside, party president Bardella, for all his lack of political experience, would still win the election's first round and qualify for a run-off of the top two candidates.
"To Marine, I want to say just this: you could rely on me yesterday, you can rely on me today, and you will be able to rely on me tomorrow," Bardella said on X.
DETAILS OF LE PEN VERDICT WILL BE CRUCIAL
The reading of the verdict is likely to take several hours, and Le Pen is slated to give a prime-time TV interview on TF1 at 8 p.m., in which she may make an announcement on her political future.
The RN, the biggest party in parliament, has already had to plan for a potential future without her as its candidate for the election.
RN officials say Le Pen would campaign alongside Bardella if he becomes the candidate, and the party leadership would remain united. Still, Bardella advocates a more free-market line than Le Pen, and has voiced ideas for pension reform that could irk some of the voters who form the RN's base.
Who ultimately tries to become modern France's first far-right head of state will depend on the details of the verdict.
Le Pen was originally found guilty of being at the heart of a scheme to misappropriate EU funds intended to finance parliamentary assistants, using the money instead to pay RN employees.
She received a five-year ban from standing for elected office, effective immediately, a €100,000 fine and a four-year prison sentence — two of which were suspended, two to be served in home detention.
The court could uphold Le Pen's conviction but soften the sentence. If the ban is lifted or shortened to two years or less, she could probably run as the ban started in March 2025.
However, if the prison sentence is upheld, requiring her to stay at home under electronic monitoring, a presidential campaign would become politically and logistically difficult.
The judges could also overturn Le Pen's conviction, leaving her entirely free to run for president. But given the lower court's findings, legal experts consider this unlikely.
If the conviction and sentence are upheld, Le Pen could appeal to France's highest court, the Cour de Cassation. But she has said she will not be a presidential candidate if she has to wait any longer for a final ruling.
(writing by Juliette Jabkhiro and Ingrid Melander; editing by Kevin Liffey and Aidan Lewis)
