Another imponderable in case of, for example, a two-year disqualification is to appeal to the highest court of appeal, the Cour de Cassation.

If on Tuesday she is found guilty but authorized to run for president, then it would not be in her best interest to appeal to the Court of Cassation because its decision, which would be known in January, could go against her and reimpose her ineligibility.

However, not only the accused can go to the Cour de Cassation. The prosecution can do it too. In which case, we could allow Le Pen to run for the next few months (because her original ineligibility would be suspended) only to be declared ineligible again early next year.

All these uncertainties have led some to speculate whether, deep down, Le Pen has already resigned herself to not running and handing over the campaign to Bardella.

In an interview on French television before the verdict, she seemed almost happy at the prospect: “Whatever happens, I will stay alive. Whatever happens, I will continue fighting for my ideas.”

But there is another school of thought that leans towards the theory that, for all the enthusiasm for Bardella, in the end it will be Le Pen who faces the electorate in April or May next year.

According to this interpretation, apparently widespread in government circles, the judges are not insensitive to the political importance of their decision and would therefore be reluctant to deprive the electorate of a candidate as popular as Le Pen.

In truth, no one knows how the verdict will fall. The only thing that can be said for sure is that a lot depends on it. A Le Pen candidacy for the French presidency is not the same as a Bardella candidacy.

On the one hand, the two represent different sensibilities within the nationalist camp.

Le Pen has always declared herself “neither left nor right” and her appeal is strongest among the old working class. Bardella leans more toward traditional right-wing economic liberalism, as evidenced by his recent contact with senior business executives.

Party insiders say the two are “complementary”, each appealing to different sections of the population and the combination potentially allowing the RN to break its glass ceiling and ultimately gain power.

But no matter how much they minimize their differences – and no matter how much they profess their loyalty to each other – the passing of power from the experienced, family-oriented, loyalty-inspiring warrior that is Marine Le Pen to the untested squire that is Jordan Bardella would be a step into the unknown.