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France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen has officially launched her presidential campaign. She said economic, social and security crises were deepening and pledged to restore order and national confidence in the country, AnewZ reports.
Her candidacy announcement comes as pressure mounts on President Emmanuel Macron’s administration. Mass protests against the rising cost of living and deteriorating public services have taken place on two consecutive weekends. Looting and vandalism were reported during the demonstrations, and more than 1,000 people were detained.
Le Pen addressed supporters in Orleans, a city associated with Joan of Arc. “We are not witnessing the end of the world, but the end of a world — their world,” she said.
Le Pen said security was the state’s primary responsibility and pledged “zero tolerance” in policing. She said she would restore order and national confidence.
Le Pen’s campaign pledges
Le Pen pledged to restore border controls and automatically deport foreign criminals. On the economy, she proposed limiting public spending, cutting business taxes and ruling out any further increase in the retirement age.
She did not propose that France leave the European Union, but said she wanted to reduce Brussels’ influence.
A poll published on October 25 put support for Le Pen at 32% to 33.5%, 17 percentage points higher than that for far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon. Polls suggest Le Pen could comfortably defeat Melenchon in a runoff.
Legal proceedings and party leadership
Legal uncertainty remains over Le Pen’s candidacy. An appeals court upheld a ruling in July that found her guilty of misappropriating European Union funds, but ruled that she could run in the election.
Le Pen later filed a final appeal with France’s highest court. The court suspended the order requiring her to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet and said it could issue its ruling in the case by early April 2027. The two rounds of the presidential election are scheduled for April 18 and May 2.
Jordan Bardella was re-elected chairman of the National Rally party and presented as Le Pen’s candidate for prime minister. His speech was interrupted by activists from a Jewish student union protesting allegations that he had expressed antisemitic views in his youth. Bardella denies the allegations.
Le Pen has spent more than a decade trying to soften the image of the party she inherited from her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, in 2011.
She concluded her speech with the words, “The future belongs to us,” and sang the French national anthem with her supporters.
