Le Pen launches campaign in Orléans: 'Zero tolerance' and a double border
The National Rally leader enters the 2027 presidential race as frontrunner. One poll puts her at 32 to 33.5 percent, with Mélenchon second on 17 percent.
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Marine Le Pen formally launched her campaign for France's 2027 presidential election in Orléans on Sunday. Organisers said 8,500 supporters attended. "We are not living through the end of the world but the end of a world, their world," she said of her opponents. She promised "zero tolerance" on crime, "national priority" and "a double border: French and European".
A poll published on Sunday and cited by Reuters put Le Pen at 32 to 33.5 percent, with hard-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon second on 17 percent. She did not call for leaving the EU but wants to roll back Brussels' influence, and said France would not send its young people to die in "reckless" military adventures. Le Pen was convicted of embezzling European Parliament funds and is appealing the verdict.
At the party congress the day before, Jordan Bardella was re-elected party president with 98.98 percent as the sole candidate; he is slated to become prime minister if Le Pen wins. Members of the Union of French Jewish Students briefly interrupted his speech over allegations of antisemitic messages from his youth, which he denies. The campaign begins after weeks of protests and rioting in France.