An appeals court in Paris is weighing whether to uphold or reduce Marine Le Pen's conviction for diverting €1.4M in European Parliament funds and whether a shorter ban would allow her to stand in the presidential contest.Prosecutors won a five-year ban and a four-year sentence in the first-instance ruling that included electronic tagging, while Marine Le Pen, who leads polls, says she did not intend wrongdoing and that party staff also worked as parliamentary aides.If the court bars her,
Jordan Bardella would likely be the
National Rally's candidate and
Marine Le Pen has pledged to back him and seek to serve as his prime minister, with lawyers preparing possible appeals to the
Court of Cassation that could prolong uncertainty.