In France, a decision will be announced tomorrow in the case where Marine Le Pen, a prominent figure in the far-right National Rally (RN) party, is being tried for corruption. If Le Pen is found guilty, she will not be able to run in the 2027 Presidential elections. The Paris Criminal Court will announce its decision tomorrow in the case where Le Pen, who was the biggest rival of France’s President Emmanuel Macron in the previous elections and announced her candidacy for the 2027 elections, is being tried for corruption. The decision from tomorrow’s hearing of the trial, which began last year and involves Le Pen and 26 others being tried for corruption, could hinder the far-right leader’s participation in the presidential elections. Prosecutors in Le Pen’s case are not waiting for the Paris Criminal Court’s appeal process to finish, but are demanding an immediate implementation of a 5-year ban from elections for the far-right leader. Some French legal experts believe that the recent decision of the Constitutional Court approving a sentencing of a local politician without exhausting the appeal process could also be applied to Le Pen, who is being tried for misappropriating EU funds and whose trial could take years to conclude if appealed. If judges, based on the Constitutional Court’s ruling, decide to enforce the sentence without waiting for the appeal process to finish, the far-right Le Pen will not be able to compete in the 2027 Presidential elections. On the other hand, some legal experts argue that the Constitutional Court’s decision might be limited to local officials and may not be applicable to Le Pen’s case. The Constitutional Court had deemed valid the decision of the Criminal Court to dismiss the former local elected official of the French colony Mayotte, Rachadi Saindou, who was being tried for misappropriating public funds in 2024 without waiting for the appeal process to conclude. The Paris Criminal Court will announce its decision regarding Le Pen on March 31st. WHAT HAD HAPPENED? During her time as a member of the European Parliament (EP), Le Pen is accused of paying salaries with EP funds to two people for fictitious consultancy services. In France, in 2015, an investigation was opened against some EP members including Marine Le Pen, from the former National Front Party, on allegations of creating “phantom employment” in the EP between 2004-2016. The Paris prosecutor’s office requested a trial against some EP members of the party, including Le Pen and her father Jean-Marie Le Pen, alleging misuse of EU funds and “concealing the offense.” In 2018, the formation, which changed its name to National Rally (RN), and included prominent figures like Le Pen, her father Jean-Marie Le Pen, Louis Aliot, and Bruno Gollnisch among 27 party members who were accused of misusing EU funds, began to be tried in the Paris Criminal Court in September 2024.