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As French President Emmanuel Macron struggles to maintain his fragile grip on power, manoeuvres are reportedly underway by his far-right rival Marine Le Pen’s populist party to clear a path to an electoral run in 2027.
Le Pen is currently banned from standing for public office for five years after being found guilty in March this year of embezzling funds from the European parliament.
A frontrunner in the polls for the presidency in 2027, Le Pen was among a number of National Rally (RN) party officials accused of diverting close to €3m (￡2.5m) of European parliament funds to pay France-based staff.
Le Pen has denied the embezzlement charges and has appealed. Her appeal trial over the misuse of EU funds will begin on January 13, 2026, the Paris Court of Appeal said this week.
Despite a backlog of cases, the court accelerated Le Pen’s case in order to be able to deliver its ruling in the summer of 2026, to "keep the deliberations and judicial debate as far away as possible from the key election date", according to news outlet France 24.
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This means Le Pen could still run in 2027 if her conviction is overturned or her sentence amended.
Nonetheless, any effort to overcome her current ban from running for president will be a tall order as the judge presiding over the embezzlement case granted prosecutors’ request that Le Pen face an immediate five-year ban from public office, regardless of any appeal process, using a so-called “provisional execution” measure.
Despite this, two possible means of circumnavigating the ban are reportedly being explored by her party who has said it will not be looking for an alternative leader to contest elections.
Le Pen herself has said she intends to try to run at the next election, while also suggesting her 29-year-old protégé Jordan Bardella, the current leader of RN, should also be prepared to make a run if she is unable to.
Marine Le Pen and her protégé, Jordan Bardella, leader of RN(AP)
According to a report in The Telegraph, Mr Macron’s instability could provide one means of bypassing her current ban from running for public office.
“RN officials are thought to be examining ways they could amend the French penal code so that the charges against Ms Le Pen and 24 other defendants in the trial would no longer be criminal,” the newspaper reports.
However, this path depends on Mr Macron having to call another snap election, and for RN to win a parliamentary majority, which would then allow it to legislate such an “amnesty bill”.
RN currently has 123 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly, enough to make it France’s biggest opposition party, but far short of a majority, though that could change dramatically in an election.
Another route for Le Pen also depends on Mr Macron’s crumbling authority and the possibility of a snap election. According to news website Politico, a Le Pen adviser said that if such an election was called, she would likely submit her paperwork to run with election authorities in her constituency – which would undoubtedly be rejected.
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She could then file an appeal with an administrative court which, if also rejected, she could then appeal on the constitutionality of her ban with the hope that the case would rapidly make its way to the constitutional court. An unusually rapid decision may then make it possible for her to run.
Despite having to appoint yet another prime minister this week, after losing three in less than a year, Mr Macron has said he does not intend to call another snap election or to resign from office.