Moment of destiny for France's Le Pen in verdict to decide her future in presidential race

Moment of destiny for France's Le Pen in verdict to decide her future in presidential raceImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Last year a Paris court found Marine Le Pen guilty of misusing European parliamentary funds. Her case is now in the court of appealBy Hugh Schofield Paris correspondentPublished3 minutes agoFrance is in a state of nervous excitement as it awaits Tuesday's court verdict which will determine if nationalist frontrunner Marine Le Pen can stand in next year's presidential election.Rarely in a judicial decision in France have the political stakes been higher.Latest opinion polls suggest that the 57-year-old leader of the National Rally (RN) is well-positioned to become France's next head of state.But if the appeal court in Paris follows last year's initial verdict in her trial for misuse of European parliamentary funds, then Le Pen will be declared ineligible for public office and her political hopes will be in ruins.Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Thirty-year-old Jordan Bardella is set to become RN's presidential candidate should Le Pen be blocked from running The RN's candidate in the April-May election would automatically become Le Pen's much younger colleague, 30-year-old Jordan Bardella. Polls currently indicate that he too would be favourite in the elections – but his youth and inexperience could start to tell once campaigning gets underway."Because of the presidential election, the decision you must render is of dizzying significance," Le Pen's lawyer Rudolphe Bosselut told the court in his summing-up in February.After deliberating for four months, the court will rule whether to confirm, overturn or adapt the verdict and sentence handed down on Le Pen in March 2025. Ten other RN officials – out of 25 originally convicted – are also appealing.In that first trial, the RN leader was found to have knowingly presided over a system in which RN staffers in Paris posed as EU parlia...