{"id":11347,"date":"2026-10-25T21:58:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-25T21:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=11347"},"modified":"2026-10-25T21:58:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-25T21:58:19","slug":"marine-le-pen-vows-french-renaissance-as-far-right-eyes-seat-of-power-elections-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=11347","title":{"rendered":"Marine Le Pen vows French \u2018renaissance\u2019 as far right eyes seat of power | Elections News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Orleans, France \u2013<\/strong> Marine Le Pen took to the stage with a clear message: She would lead France\u2019s \u201crenaissance\u201d as the country sank into crisis \u2013 and she would do so soon.<\/p>\n

The far-right figure\u2019s words were met with cheers from thousands of supporters gathered in Orleans in central France on Sunday, as she launched her presidential campaign against a backdrop of mass demonstrations and widespread social and economic discontent.<\/p>\n

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\u201cMarine pr\u00e9sidente!\u201d the crowd chanted, waving French flags beneath a sea of red and blue lights. Organisers said 8,500 supporters had gathered in a venue transformed into a fort for the event.<\/p>\n

Standing tall on stage in a pink blazer, her hair impeccably coiffed, Le Pen spoke with the confidence of a leader who believes the presidency is within reach.<\/p>\n

Riding high in the polls, with candidates from the right, left and centre trailing behind her, she presented the election as a historic opportunity to restore France\u2019s past glory.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a story to be written, a destiny to be fulfilled,\u201d she told the crowd, which erupted in cheers.<\/p>\n

Her pitch was a promise to restore authority and security in a country she portrayed as having lost control.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going to re-establish the rule of law,\u201d she said, drawing loud applause from supporters wearing \u201cMarine pr\u00e9sidente\u201d T-shirts.<\/p>\n

Manon Funeau, 21, a business school student, was among the supporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat they propose are values that resonate with me, that vibrate within me,\u201d she said. \u201cHonestly, I feel at home here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Le Pen\u2019s speech comes as the country is at a crossroads. France has been shaken by a wave of protests since mid-September, a movement sparked by high school students in a Paris suburb that grew into a nationwide mobilisation tapping into widespread discontent.<\/p>\n

Over the past two weekends, largely peaceful protests have been accompanied by episodes of violence on a scale rarely seen in recent years.<\/p>\n

On October 17<\/a>, shops were looted and ransacked, and more than 2,000 people were arrested as hundreds of thousands took to the streets of French cities. A similar dynamic unfolded the following weekend<\/a>, though on a smaller scale. The protests show little sign of abating, with calls for further demonstrations already circulating.<\/p>\n

The unrest has given Le Pen\u2019s National Rally (RN) an opportunity to play one of its favourite cards: presenting itself as the guarantor of law and order. It has fuelled criticism of President Emmanuel Macron over his handling of public security, allowing Le Pen to accuse him of incompetence and the far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon \u2013 a contender in the coming elections \u2013 of encouraging the violence.<\/p>\n

\u2018My country is drifting off course\u2019<\/h2>\n

\u201cI believe that my country is currently drifting off course,\u201d said Nadede, a 56-year-old who began voting for RN in 2024 over what she said was the country\u2019s growing lack of security. She did not spell out any specific event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that the only person capable of setting it back on the right track is Marine Le Pen \u2013 especially since, up until now, everyone else who has run for office has struggled to do so,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Outside the convention hall, the scale of the security operation offered a glimpse of the tensions surrounding the event. Police checks began at departure stations in Paris and continued on arrival, while officers in full gear moved through train carriages during the journey.<\/p>\n

Orleans itself had been brought to a near standstill. All businesses were shut and public transport suspended.<\/p>\n

Standing almost alone in the city\u2019s main square was the statue of Joan of Arc, surrounded only by fences. A day earlier, about 3,000 police officers had been deployed to prevent unrest as anti-RN protesters gathered against what they say is a xenophobic and racist party.<\/p>\n

Orleans was no casual choice. For a party that has long sought to cast itself as the guardian of French identity and national sovereignty, the city is inseparable from the story of Joan of Arc, the 15th-century heroine who helped lift the English siege of Orl\u00e9ans in 1429 and became a symbol of France\u2019s resistance and liberation.<\/p>\n

For decades, the far right has claimed her as an emblem of national pride, invoking the image of a warrior who came to save France from foreign domination. Le Pen herself has drawn parallels between Joan\u2019s mission and her political ambitions.<\/p>\n

\"Member
Eric Ciotti, Nice mayor and president of the Union des Droites (UDR) parliamentary group; French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, member of parliament from the French far-right Rassemblement National (National Rally \u2013 RN) party and candidate for the 2027 French presidential election; and Jordan Bardella, president of the RN party, stand on stage during a rally to launch the presidential campaign, after the party\u2019s Congress in Orleans, France, October 25, 2026 [Nicolas Economou\/Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The crowd at the RN Congress offered a glimpse of how the party has expanded its appeal to a wider section of society: from young people from urban centres to middle-class workers who used to vote for the centrist party.<\/p>\n

Only a few years ago, the party was still considered on the fringes of French politics. Its growth has been driven in part by a carefully crafted strategy known as d\u00e9diabolisation<\/em>, or de-demonisation, developed over the past two decades to broaden the party\u2019s base while tempering its rhetoric and distancing it from positions that had made it toxic to many voters.<\/p>\n

The party has long been associated with racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism. Le Pen\u2019s father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, was convicted of hate speech, including for describing Nazi gas chambers as \u201ca detail of history\u201d. He was expelled from the party in 2015.<\/p>\n

Far-right \u2018gaining ground\u2019<\/h2>\n

Marine Le Pen has sought to broaden RN\u2019s appeal, combining restrictive immigration policies with promises of social protection. The party has gained ground in working-class areas traditionally associated with the left, including former Communist strongholds, by presenting itself as a defender of public services and the purchasing power of everyday people.<\/p>\n

While RN has long abandoned some of its most radical proposals, including leaving the Eurozone and pursuing a fully fledged \u201cFrexit\u201d, the election of such a eurosceptic to the helm of the European Union\u2019s second-largest economy would send shockwaves. She has pledged a referendum to challenge the primacy of EU law over migration policy, as well as an annual 11-billion-euro ($12.3bn) reduction in France\u2019s contribution to the bloc.<\/p>\n

The party\u2019s membership has nearly tripled, with approximately 112,000 members now paying their dues, up from fewer than 37,000 in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe party has been gaining ground at every level: mayors, deputies, senators. Usually, when a movement seems on the rise, people join,\u201d said Baptiste Roger-Lacan, a historian and political analyst with a focus on far-right parties in Europe. \u201cIt also shows how it is less and less socially damaging to be a member of the RN.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the party\u2019s programme \u201cis still fraught with fiscal absurdity\u201d, Roger-Lacan said. \u201cThey still want to implement racist laws, which are bound to provoke widespread anger, and their diplomatic agenda is still pro-Russian and anti-EU \u2013 even if they don\u2019t advocate Frexit any more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jordan Bardella, Le Pen\u2019s second-in-command and Le Pen prot\u00e9g\u00e9 \u2013 an impeccably dressed 31-year-old who looks like a cross between the Wolf of Wall Street and Superman\u2019s alter ego, Clark Kent \u2013 also spoke at the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one should be intimidated by their political opinions,\u201d he said, speaking ahead of his mentor.<\/p>\n

Some observers say the October 17 protests and their aftermath have proved a gift to RN, allowing the party to not only reinforce its law-and-order message but also to shift attention away from recent difficulties.<\/p>\n

In September, investigative outlet Mediapart published allegations that Bardella had expressed anti-Semitic views in private messages dating back to his teenage years. He denied the allegations and announced legal action against the journalists.<\/p>\n

The episode posed a challenge for a party that has spent years trying to shed its xenophobic image and recast itself as a supporter of Israel.<\/p>\n

Bardella has also reportedly differed with Le Pen over the party\u2019s economic agenda and whether to make her proposed ban on the wearing of the Islamic headscarf in public spaces a central campaign issue.<\/p>\n

Yet, at the Congress, those tensions appeared to have been set aside, at least publicly.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarine president \u2013 a Bardella government\u201d was the slogan, projecting unity as Le Pen launched her presidential bid and Bardella positioned himself as her prospective head of government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Orleans, France \u2013 Marine Le Pen took to the stage with a clear message: She would lead France\u2019s \u201crenaissance\u201d as the country sank into crisis \u2013 and she would do so soon. The far-right figure\u2019s words were met with cheers from thousands of supporters gathered in Orleans in central France on Sunday, as she launched…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_templately_pack_id":"","_templately_imported_at":"","_templately_source":"","_templately_import_session_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-international-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t