analysis
The right-wing populist Marine Le Pen wants to take advantage of the popularity of her young shooting star to become president herself. A misjudgment that could cost the French right its electoral victory.
Jul 9, 2026, 2:23 amJul 9, 2026, 3:02 am
Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen at an election appearance in Liévin a few days ago.Image: EPA/Keystone
How good it feels to be campaigning again! Accompanied by a group of cameras and countless photographers, Marine Le Pen visited the small town of La Flèche in the Loire Valley on Wednesday in a good mood, where the Rassemblement National (RN) has been the mayor since the spring.
“The voters can finally decide,” she said of the court decision from the previous day. The appeal judges had reduced the duration of her ineligibility for embezzlement of public funds just enough to allow Le Pen to run for office next April and May.
Just hours later, the 57-year-old right-wing populist announced that she would run for election. And that despite the fact that she basically has to wear an ankle bracelet for a year – not exactly the right souvenir for an entry into the Elysée Palace.
With or without ankle bracelets to the Elysée?
Le Pen also announced that she would ask the Court of Cassation to reassess the guilty verdict. As long as this process is ongoing, Le Pen is considered innocent. Prosecutor Marie-Suzanne Le Quéau confirmed on Wednesday that Le Pen could “start the election campaign without an ankle bracelet.” But she specified: If the Court of Cassation makes its verdict before the elections – and it has agreed to do so – then Le Pen will have to wear the leg device “at the end of the election campaign”.
And probably also when moving into the Elysée. Le Pen’s lawyers would try to delay the shackling. But the very idea that a president could move into her palace with a reporting device for criminals and also have to take political justice measures there is unthinkable for the French. It is also likely to be expressed in votes.
Le Pen brushed off the objection. “I am innocent,” she said on television, referring to the suspensive effect of a cassation petition. As if by chance, she was dressed entirely in white, the color of innocence.
Then she made an announcement: With her replacement, Jordan Bardella, who stood by in the event of a final conviction of Le Pen, the right-wing nationalist is forming a “binomial”: If she is elected as president, she will appoint her 30-year-old foster son as prime minister, Le Pen promised.
Such an electoral ticket may be common in countries such as the USA; in France it has no official function. Only Nicolas Sarkozy had once indicated that he would make François Fillon his head of government if elected. But that hardly played a role in the election campaign.
Tough for Le Pen: Bardella is more popular than she is
Le Pen is announcing the formal ticket for a crucial reason for her: she wants to benefit from the popularity of her political novice. It doesn’t occur to her to let him run for office, even though Bardella has the highest approval rating (35 percent) of all French politicians. Le Pen achieved 32 percent. It is popular, but carries with it a negative connotation. Many French people cannot imagine voting for them, even if they approve of the Lepenists’ anti-immigration slogans.
Bardella would have helped them out of the dilemma. Thanks to his young age, the RN leader is also not involved in the Le Pen trial. He cannot be accused of what the left-wing opposition is now rightly accusing Le Pen of – her agitation against foreign delinquents, even though she herself received an unconditional prison sentence and will probably have a criminal record.
This explains why Bardella would be given more electoral chances than Le Pen. But only if he were to run himself. As number two, his impact threatens to evaporate. In the presidential election, Bardella’s name would not appear on any ballot paper. Sociologist Safia Dahani, like most political experts, believes that Le Pen is mistaken if she thinks she will benefit from the “ticket” with Bardella.
Le Pen doesn’t bother with such considerations. Her camp has a simple argument for running themselves and not letting Bardella go first: “With Le Pen you never give up,” said one of her confidants. “Or only when you’re dead.”
Bardella obediently followed his mentor in front of the cameras in La Flèche. He denied any tension or differences with Le Pen: “We work together as we have always worked together.” While Le Pen beamed at these words, Bardella’s expression refused to lighten. Maybe because he knows that he would have been more likely to win the presidential election than his boss, who has run unsuccessfully three times since 2012. But as a matter of principle, the Le Pens never give up. (schweiztoday.ch)