Former Interior Minister and president of the Les Républicains party Bruno Retailleau has announced his planned candidacy for the 2027 presidential election, becoming the first of several right-wing candidates expected to do so.
If elected, Mr Retailleau said he would “submit several major pieces of legislation directly to a referendum,” including on measures to “drastically reduce immigration.”
Mr Retailleau, 65, announced his intention in a live announcement on social media on Thursday night (February 12), ending speculation over whether he planned to lead Les Républicains at the upcoming election.
Falling towards the right of the party, Mr Retailleau is known for hardline views on immigration. During his tenure as Interior Minister he pushed for a series of stricter immigration controls.
He also presided over the rollout of parts of the 2024 immigration bill, and asked prefectures to be stricter in enforcing rules on naturalisation.
It is not yet certain that Mr Retailleau will represent Les Républicains as a number of other members have also expressed interest in representing the party in the 2027 election.
This includes Hauts-de-France president Xavier Bertrand; head of the Association of French Mayors David Lisnard (who says he will run separately if there is no official primary on the right); and former Prime Minister Michel Barnier (positioning himself as a candidate to represent both centrist and right-wing voters).
Others including MP Laurent Wauquiez have called for a wider right-wing primary, including several potential candidates including members of the ruling government and far-right politicians outside of Rassembelment National.
Immigration hardliner and plans to ‘return rule of law’
An established member of Les Républicains, Mr Retailleau won an internal election to head the party in May 2025 against more moderate candidate Mr Wauquiez.
A prominent internal figure of the party and long-time Senator, Mr Retailleau came to wider national attention following his appointment as Interior Minister.
He held the role between September 2024 and October 2025, first under Prime Minister Michel Barnier and his successor François Bayrou.
His decision to quit the post almost immediately after being named in Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s cabinet led to the collapse of the first Lecornu government after only a number of hours.
Mr Retailleau has often placed immigration at centre-stage of his policies, representing both his own beliefs and a wider political strategy to lure voters away from far-right rivals Rassemblement National.
Soon after being announced as Interior Minister, Mr Retailleau began pushing for discussions on a new immigration law, despite the landmark text of his predecessor Gérald Darmanin not yet coming into force.
Mr Retailleau wanted to see a number of changes, including reworking medical aid for undocumented immigrants in France, re-instating illegal residency in France as a criminal offence, and ending automatic right to citizenship for children of non-French citizens living in the country.
The former Interior Minister said he also planned to end so-called “abuses of the rule of law… [and] initiate a genuine revolution in criminal justice" as well as "restore primacy to national law when it comes to protecting fundamental French interests.”
“I don't want to be President of the Republic out of an obsession with power, but out of a sense of duty,” he stated.
He called on voters to defend “a France that is sinking [and] fading away, in an increasingly threatening world… to confront the world's turmoil, [the] country must first put its own affairs in order."
"I will be the president of order, justice, and French pride,” he added.
Additional promises included cutting French debt, arguing “a state cannot spend more than it earns” and to “relaunch a major family policy.”
Who else will compete in the election?
He becomes the second person to officially announce his bid following former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe in 2024.
Current President Emmanuel Macron is constitutionally barred from running for a third successive term, leaving the future of his centrist coalition in doubt.
Members of his Ensemble coalition group touted to announce bids or to at least compete in primaries include former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, and current Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin, also a former Interior Minister.
For Mr Darmanin, a former member of Les Républicains, this may be as part of the wider right-wing primary.
Far-right MP and Rassemblement National figurehead Marine Le Pen is awaiting the results of an appeal trial against a conviction for embezzlement of EU funds, that includes a ban on running for political office. If the ban is upheld, it is likely that party leader Jordan Bardella will run for the presidential post.
Among the left-wing parties, it remains unclear whether they will unite within a new third coalition (following NUPES in 2022 and the NFP in 2024).
More moderate parties including the Socialists and Greens are set to run a combined primary to field a single candidate between themselves, but the far-left La France Insoumise and Communist Party are not yet included in the move.
Despite alliances between groups in the Assemblée Nationale, they are yet to unite under a single presidential candidate.
Can right-wing party reverse fortune?
While the presidential election is more than a year away – and there are still the municipal elections to come in March 2026 – political attention is firmly placed on who will succeed President Macron.
The next president is widely expected (though not legally required) to dissolve the Assemblée Nationale following their election, seeking to return a new set of MPs to the chamber and potentially ending the current deadlock.
Les Républicains are hoping to pull in voters from both the right and centre in order to assert their claim as a major party, both in the presidential election and any subsequent legislative elections.
The party, last in full executive power before Nicolas Sarkozy left office in 2012, has long lost voters to the far-right, culminating in the Rassemblement National winning the European elections in 2024 and emerging as the largest single party by seats in the Assemblée following the 2024 legislative vote.
At the same time, President Macron’s promise of a ‘third-way’ in French politics in 2017 caused many to switch allegiances and vote for him.
With President Macron unable to run and his centrist coalition appearing weak without him at the helm, there is an opportunity for Les Républicains to entice moderate voters towards their camp.
After failing to reach the second round of both previous elections and gaining only 49 seats in the 2024 legislative election, the party is struggling to assert its legitimacy as ‘the voice of the right’ behind the far-right Rassemblement National.
Following the far-right party’s rebrand and its steps to become a serious and legitimate political force, many sympathetic voters who were previously hesitant to vote for the party now seem content to do so as it has been accepted into the mainstream political fold.
Whether Les Républicains can win back these voters remains their biggest challenge in achieving electoral victory.
