The Guardian view on the French presidential election campaign: only the far right will profit from division | Editorial

Mainstream politicians should remember that in the battle to defeat Jordan Bardella or Marine Le Pen, unity is strength

Less than a year before the most important French presidential election in the history of the Fifth Republic, the phoney war is almost over.

On 7 July, a https://www.lemonde.fr/en/politics/article/2026/02/11/french-court-to-rule-on-july-7-in-marine-le-pen-appeal-trial_6750393_5.html">court will decide whether to uphold Marine Le Pen’s appeal against a fraud conviction and a five-year ban from public office.

Should she lose, her party’s 30‑year‑old president, Jordan Bardella, will be confirmed as Rassemblement National’s candidate and the https://www.politico.eu/article/french-poll-sees-far-right-jordan-bardella-winning-far-left-jean-luc-melenchon-surging-in-2027-election/">frontrunner in the race.

Voters will need to wait considerably longer, however, for clarity over who will oppose the far right.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the veteran leader of the radical-left party La France Insoumise (LFI), has already https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/04/france-jean-luc-melenchon-president-bid-2027">announced a fourth tilt at the presidency.

But as Emmanuel Macron approaches the end of a second term blighted by unforced errors, multiple egos are jostling on the centre-left and the centre-right, amid a frantic weighing of the odds.