France elects a new president in the spring of 2027, and Emmanuel Macron cannot stand again. The National Rally of Marine Le Pen leads every poll. Since Macron dissolved parliament in 2024 the country has had no majority: the assembly is split three ways between his centre, the National Rally and an alliance of the left, governments fall over budgets, and the deficit is among the largest in Europe. Le Pen herself stands convicted of misusing European Parliament funds, and is a candidate all the same.
The wider dispute and each side's full account: The struggle over power inside the European Union.
Where it stands · September 2026
Marine Le Pen opened her 2027 presidential campaign on 13 September with a platform centred on housing and national priority, and formally kicked it off in Hénin-Beaumont on 14 September. On 28 September the far right gained seats in the Senate elections. On 29 September Jordan Bardella filed a defamation suit against Mediapart over antisemitism claims. On 30 September President Emmanuel Macron called Bardella's remarks gravely unacceptable.
What the dispute is about
Who may govern. For forty years every other party has joined forces in second rounds to keep the Le Pens out of power, which the French call the republican front. Each time fewer voters have followed.
The programme. Priority for French citizens in housing, jobs and welfare, which the constitutional court has held unlawful and which would require changing the constitution by referendum; far less immigration; French law above European law.
The court case. Whether a candidate who leads the polls can be barred from running by a criminal court, and what it means if she is not.
