France, June 26 -- 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.

"I have accepted the possibility that I may be unable to run. Jordan has accepted the possibility that he may have to take up the torch," Le Pen told French weekly Valeurs Actuelles.

The comments were the clearest indication yet from the normally defiant Le Pen that sh...