National Rally President Jordan Bardella confirmed on Saturday he will run in the 2027 French presidential election if his mentor Marine Le Pen — the three-time candidate and front-runner whose ambitions have been derailed by an embezzlement conviction — is barred from taking part.
“There is no ambiguity about the fact that Marine Le Pen is my candidate, but that if she was prevented [from running] tomorrow, I think I can tell you that I would be her candidate,” he told French publication Le Parisien in an interview published Saturday.
Bardella, the 29-year-old chair of the Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament, has long been seen as the heir-apparent in the National Rally but had not openly endorsed his backup role in the presidential bid until now.
