France: Far-right and far-left lead polls

To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site. Cover image: © France 24 04:31 Issued on: 30/08/2026 - 16:44 On April 18 and May 2 next year, France will vote to elect a new president to replace Emmanuel Macron. The outgoing president, who has served two terms, cannot run again, while the latest opinion polls are predicting a victory for Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Rally. Although the election is still more than seven months away, several potential candidates have already thrown their hats into the ring and announced their candidacies, including far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon and former centre-right Prime Minister Édouard Philippe. But do any of them stand a chance of beating the far right? France 24 International Affairs editor Philip Turle shares further insights. Keywords for this article