The 2027 Presidential Race Begins

Gabriel Attal held his first campaign rally on 30 May at the Parc des Expositions, Porte de Versailles, Paris, drawing about 5,000 supporters chanting 'Attal président!'. He set out four priorities — education (his 'cheval de bataille'), wages, border security and artificial intelligence — and pitched himself as the optimist of the race: 'I leave the blood and the tears to others; I promise you action and hope.' He framed his run around 'elevation' so that each French family could be certain the next generation would live better, against the backdrop of his unresolved rivalry with Philippe and doubts about his ability to rally all of Renaissance behind him.

Days after declaring, Attal proposed a primary to unite the centre and right and prevent an LFI–RN runoff, launching a liaison committee with Renaissance, Horizons and François Bayrou's MoDem — but Édouard Philippe and Les Républicains rejected the idea, Philippe saying there was 'no place' for such a primary given the wide field and low trust between parties. In parallel Attal hardened his immigration line on France Inter, arguing France should 'welcome less to welcome better' and prioritise work-based over family immigration, while rejecting Justice Minister Darmanin's proposed three-year moratorium as neither possible nor desirable; deputy Paul Midy cited polls showing Attal gaining 5–6 points. Separately, LR vice-president François-Xavier Bellamy said he would 'obviously' vote RN in a runoff against Mélenchon's LFI, calling LFI 'the greatest danger to French democracy'.

Bernard Cazeneuve, former prime minister under François Hollande, confirmed on France Inter on 19 May his intention to run in 2027, positioning himself as a social-democratic alternative against the 'dégagismes' of the far right and far left. He cited 'an extremely grave international context' and a 'fragmentation of the political landscape' that could produce an LFI-versus-RN runoff, and stressed his consistency — having refused the 2022 alliance with LFI, unlike Hollande and Raphaël Glucksmann, who occupy the same centre-left space. He promised a forthcoming programme built on 'credible proposals and responsibility'.

With the Paris appeals court set to rule on 7 July in the European Parliament assistants funding case — a verdict that could bar Marine Le Pen from running — Jordan Bardella positioned himself as the RN's substitute candidate, expanding media engagement with off-the-record journalist meetings, attending international summits alone, and giving interviews to foreign press such as the Frankfurter Allgemeine. He met several ambassadors in Paris and planned a foreign trip. The RN had completed 95% of its 2027 programme, coordinated by Ambroise de Rancourt with 150 elected officials and experts, though key questions such as pension reform remained unresolved; the platform would stay essentially the same whether Le Pen or Bardella ran, with only surface adjustments.

Gabriel Attal — former PM and once a loyal Macron ally — published a book recounting a conversation five days before the June 2024 European elections in which, as polls forecast a heavy defeat, he proposed a reshuffle or referendums and Macron refused; when Attal asked whether the president was considering dissolving parliament, Macron 'raised an eyebrow' and let out a long 'pffft', then told him by phone, an hour before his televised address, that he wanted snap elections. The book was read as the formal launch of Attal's presidential campaign and his public break from Macron's most damaging decision.

Laurent Wauquiez, leader of the Droite Républicaine group in the National Assembly, declared on 12 May that Bruno Retailleau is 'the legitimate candidate of Les Républicains' for 2027, after Retailleau's candidacy was validated on 19 April by 74% of LR members. Wauquiez announced he was setting aside his own presidential ambitions to focus on 'uniting the whole right', warning that 'almost every week there's a new candidate on the right' — naming David Lisnard, Xavier Bertrand, Michel Barnier, Dominique de Villepin and Édouard Philippe — and that multiple candidacies created 'an enormous danger' that no right-wing candidate would reach the second round. He proposed first agreeing a common platform, then holding a primary to pick a single candidate.

On France Inter on 12 May, Somme deputy François Ruffin (Debout!, formerly LFI) said he wished for a left-wing primary 'but if there isn't one, I'm going', having launched his campaign before some 2,000 supporters in Lyon on 25 April. He justified pressing ahead 'for democratic reasons, because Macron has sat on [the idea of a primary] for ten years', and on 5 May had appeared alongside PS leader Olivier Faure, Greens chief Marine Tondelier and Clémentine Autain to argue for a non-Mélenchon left union — two days after Mélenchon formalised his fourth bid. The episode crystallised the non-LFI left's inability to coalesce.

At a Horizons cadres meeting in Reims on 10 May, presidential candidate Édouard Philippe — mayor of Le Havre — attacked the Rassemblement National after the Vichy-era anthem 'Maréchal, nous voilà!' was played during an 8 May commemoration in Carpentras, a town with an RN mayor. Philippe argued the RN 'has not changed' and cast himself as the only 'rempart' against a possible Mélenchon-versus-RN runoff. Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella denounced his comments as a 'fake news' smear that 'soils millions of voters', noting a local association radio had apologised for the error. The same day, ex-minister Clément Beaune argued a single candidate must emerge 'from the republican left that breaks with LFI to the moderate right that breaks with the RN', to be decided by autumn, warning 'the first round will already be a second round'.

Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement National held meetings with the German and Israeli ambassadors in France as it sought to shed its antisemitic past ahead of the presidential election, AFP reported. Party leader Jordan Bardella met the German envoy in February and Le Pen met the Israeli ambassador for the first time the previous month; both had also met the US ambassador in December. The outreach came as the RN was seen as a strong contender for 2027 with either Le Pen — running for a fourth time after two prior runoffs against Macron — or Bardella as candidate, contingent on a July appeals-court ruling on Le Pen's eligibility over an alleged fake-jobs scheme in the European Parliament.

In a franceinfo interview on 9 May, RN MEP Matthieu Valet acknowledged the party was struggling to obtain a €10.5 million bank loan to finance its presidential campaign, saying 'today we have difficulties getting a loan'. He paired the financing complaint with attacks on Macron's Algeria policy and a defence of the party's record on deportations (OQTF enforcement), while dismissing rival candidates and an EU fraud investigation. The funding gap surfaced just as polls placed the RN's candidate ahead in the first round.

On franceinfo's '8h30' on 7 May, former PM and Renaissance secretary-general Gabriel Attal said a 'rassemblement' of the central bloc would become 'imperative' specifically if there is a risk of a second-round LFI-versus-RN duel, which he called 'terrible for the French'. He revealed he had proposed a 'comité de liaison' pairing representatives of himself and Édouard Philippe to coordinate strategy, calendar and the conditions under which one might stand aside, without ruling out a primary — though he declined to say whether he would withdraw if Philippe polled ahead. He also addressed Élisabeth Borne's departure from the Renaissance leadership, saying he respected her decision to create her own structure, 'Bâtissons ensemble'.