
Paris (AFP) – France's far-right leader Marine Le Pen has asked her top lieutenant Jordan Bardella, 29, to prepare for a run in 2027 presidential elections after her fraud conviction, saying in an interview published Wednesday that her protege "may have to take up the torch".
Le Pen, the longtime standard bearer of the French far right, suffered a stunning blow in March when a French court convicted her and other party officials over an EU parliament fake jobs scam.