Madar (International) - Marine Le Pen, the far-right National Rally (RN) candidate in France's 2027 presidential election, launched her campaign on Sunday, October 25, 2026, in Orleans, central France, promising to lead the country's "renaissance", Al Jazeera English reported from the city.
Flanked by RN President Jordan Bardella and Eric Ciotti, leader of the allied Union of the Right for the Republic (UDR), she addressed a crowd organisers put at 8,500. "This is a story to be written, a destiny to be fulfilled," she said, adding: "We are going to re-establish the rule of law."
The launch comes as France has been shaken since mid-September by a wave of protests that began with high school students and grew into a nationwide mobilisation, marked by violence that led to more than 2,000 arrests on October 17. Orleans was brought to a near standstill, with businesses shut and public transport suspended, after about 3,000 police officers were deployed the day before as anti-RN protesters gathered.
Her pledges include a referendum to challenge the primacy of EU law over migration policy and an annual 11-billion-euro reduction in France's contribution to the bloc, according to the same source.
The party now has about 112,000 dues-paying members, up from fewer than 37,000 in 2022, Al Jazeera said. The choice of Orleans is symbolic for the RN: the city is tied to Joan of Arc, who helped lift the English siege of Orleans in 1429.
