T
he question dominating French politics in 2026 will be: Who can defeat the far-right Rassemblement National (RN)? And there are two follow-up questions for parties within the so-called "republican arc," the many parties in between the two extremes. How can they prevent a face-off between the RN and the La France Insoumise (LFI) in the second round of the 2027 presidential election, knowing that the leftist party fell just 421,308 votes short of reaching the run-off in 2022? And how will they decide between their many candidates?
Several figures have already announced their candidacies: former prime minister Edouard Philippe (in office 2017-2020), leader of the Greens Marine Tondelier, and Cannes Mayor David Lisnard, formerly of the conservative Les Républicains (LR) party. Others from President Emmanuel Macron's camp are preparing themselves: The head of the centrist Renaissance party, Gabriel Attal, Assemblée Nationale President Yaël Braun-Pivet, former prime minister (2022-2024) Elisabeth Borne, and ministers Gérald Darmanin and Aurore Bergé. Some of Macron's associates also speculate that former prime minister (2020-2022) Jean Castex and the current holder of that office, Sébastien Lecornu, could enter the race.
