France's Le Pen launches presidential bid as protests rattle the nation
She promised tougher immigration and security policies as a poll showed her leading with 32% to 34% of first-round votes, Reuters reported.
- On Thursday, October 22, 2026, political rivals intensified attacks on Jean-Luc Mélenchon and his France Unbowed party, accusing them of fueling France's worst civil unrest in years.
- Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu sharpened these attacks on Tuesday, telling an LFI lawmaker that the party's "political agenda of instilling violence and chaos in the country was now on full display."
- Senate President Gerard Larcher suggested banning LFI, a move LFI decried as "authoritarian," while Renaissance party member Sylvain Maillard said, "They say they are against vandals, but at the same time they justify masks at demonstrations."
- Former Socialist President Francois Hollande warned against blaming one individual, telling France Inter, "It is not one political party or one individual that poured fuel on the fire."
- An IFOP poll published this month places Mélenchon at 16.5%, behind Marine Le Pen's 36% support, while analysts note the unrest risks alienating older voters despite his strong youth appeal.
268 Articles
268 Articles
In France, the right-wing national race assembly National has opened the presidential election campaign.
After the riots in France Marine Le Pen wins in polls. At a party congress of the "Rassemblement National" (RN) in Orléans she officially opens the election campaign.
Orleans. Far-right leader Marine Le Pen of the National Group Party (RN), a favorite for next year’s presidential election, officially launched her campaign in Orleans yesterday with the promise to restore order and national confidence, while polls put the extreme-left candidate of La Francia Insumisa (LFI), Jean-Luc Mélenchon, in second place.
The leader of the French Party National Association and presidential candidate Marín Le Pen stated at the first campaign rally in Orleans that she intended to defend France against the backdrop of protests and growing economic problems, and that Marín Le Pen had held the first major campaign rally in Orleans in the 2027 election of the President of France, had abandoned the image of radical protest politics and had presented herself as the guard…
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