The race to replace France’s centrist President Emmanuel Macron is gathering steam, with candidates publishing books and planning rallies, but it remains overshadowed by uncertainty over whether far-right leader Marine Le Pen will be allowed to stand.

Less than a year until the vote in April 2027, here’s a recap of known candidates:

 

– Far right eyes power –

 

Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration National Rally (RN) party views next year’s contest as its strongest opportunity yet to take power.

Polls have repeatedly suggested the far right could lead in the first round of the 2027 vote, but it is not yet clear who its candidate will be.

Le Pen is hoping to run for president for a fourth time next year, after coming third in 2012, then twice making the runoffs against Macron.

She will be her Eurosceptic party’s candidate if an appeals court on July 7 does not ban her from office over an alleged fake jobs scam in the European Parliament.

If she cannot, her lieutenant — 30-year-old party leader Jordan Bardella — will vie for the top job instead.

He has written two books and last month spoke publicly about his relationship with 22-year-old Princess Maria Carolina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, sparking celebrity press headlines.

 

– Two centrists –

 

Two former prime ministers, Edouard Philippe and Gabriel Attal, are hoping to gain the backing of the centrist camp.

Philippe, who is also courting right-wing voters, has said he will run and bolstered his bid by retaining his post as mayor of the northern port city of Le Havre in March.

Opinion polls in March suggested the 55-year-old, who headed the government from 2017 to 2020 during Macron’s first term and now leads his own Horizons party, could win the presidential election in a runoff against the far right.

But an opinion poll by Odoxa this week predicted he would barely make second place in the first round behind the far right’s Bardella, following a slight drop in support as investigators probe embezzlement allegations against him.

Philippe, who denies any wrongdoing, said Thursday he would stay in the race even if formally charged over the alleged misuse of public funds linked to the allocation of a digital hub contract in Le Havre in 2020.

“I like election campaigns, and I want to win this presidential election,” he told the France Inter radio broadcaster on Thursday, ahead of his first rally on July 5.

Attal, a 37-year-old openly gay man, last week said he would be running and plans to launch his campaign earlier on May 30.

“I can’t take this kind of French politics anymore, where it’s just 50 shades of managing decline,” he said.

Attal, who was France’s youngest prime minister when he served in 2024, wrote in a book that came out last month about his relationship with European commissioner and former minister Stephane Sejourne, calling him the “man of my life”.

Attal stepped down after Macron dissolved the parliament in summer 2024, a move that backfired and ended up with the RN becoming the largest single party in the National Assembly.

 

– Divided left –

 

It is unclear how many presidential candidates the left wing will field next year.

The divisive leader of the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party, Jean-Luc Melenchon, will be running for a fourth time after coming third in the last elections in 2022.

The Odoxa poll this week saw Melenchon pick up support, trailing just behind Philippe in third place.

Raphael Glucksmann, a 46-year-old member of the European parliament, has said will decide next month whether he wants to run.

The leader of the Place Publique centre-left movement, who published a book this week, came fourth in the Odoxa poll.

 

– The traditional right –

 

The 2027 election is seen as a crossroads for the traditional right, as the party weighs a move toward the centre or a further shift to the right.

Bruno Retailleau, the hardline leader of the Republicans party, who announced his presidential candidacy in February, plans to hold his first major rally in Paris late next month.

During his stint as interior minister from 2024 to 2025, he trumpeted a crackdown on irregular migration and drug trafficking.

Former premier Dominique de Villepin, 72, could enter the race, but he has not scored very high in recent opinion polls.

He too is under investigation over allegedly accepting gifts of two statuettes while he was foreign minister between 2002 and 2004. He has said he made a “mistake” as there were no guidelines on such matters at the time.

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