Marine Le Pen Launches French Presidential Campaign in Orleans
Marine Le Pen launched her campaign for the French presidency on October 25, 2026, speaking in Orleans, in central France. She leads the far-right National Rally (RN) party, and polls currently put her ahead of candidates from the right, the left and the centre.
Organisers said 8,500 supporters gathered for the launch. Al Jazeera reported that Le Pen vowed to lead what she called France's "renaissance" and to re-establish the rule of law. Julien Sanchez, a senior figure in the party, serves as her campaign director.
Her pledges on security and immigration drew particular attention. According to Reuters, she pledged to restore border controls as part of what the agency described as a hard line on immigration. She also pledged to automatically expel foreign criminals and to crack down on gangs. The Times reported that she promised to "make France beautiful" in a pledge aimed at cultural renewal.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Le Pen presented herself as a unifying figure in her launch speech.
The campaign comes after months of unrest. Protests have swept France since mid-September, when high school students in a Paris suburb began demonstrating, and the movement grew into nationwide mobilisation. On October 17, more than 2,000 people were arrested as hundreds of thousands took to the streets of French cities, and shops were looted and ransacked. The Wall Street Journal described the launch as taking place after weeks of economic unrest and protests, and amid broader social and economic discontent.
