France sets 2027 presidential election date as Macron exits scene

France has set April 18, 2027, for the first round of its next presidential election and May 2 for a runoff, after the cabinet formally approved the dates and government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon announced them. The schedule starts the race to succeed Emmanuel Macron, who is term-limited and cannot seek a third mandate.

The timing follows France’s constitutional rules, which require the president to be elected by direct universal suffrage for a five-year term and, if no candidate wins an absolute majority in the first round, to hold a second round 14 days later. The government must fix the election date 20 to 35 days before the incumbent president’s powers expire, a detail that turns the announcement into the formal opening of a contest already taking shape more than a year ahead.

Early polling has put the far-right National Rally at the center of the field. In an Ifop survey, Jordan Bardella led first-round voting intentions with 36 percent, 20 points ahead of former prime minister Édouard Philippe on 16 percent. A separate Odoxa poll showed Bardella beating Philippe 52 percent to 48 percent in a runoff, while Jean-Luc Mélenchon was also gaining ground in first-round support and could further fragment the race.

That fragmentation matters because the National Rally has not formally settled on its 2027 candidate. Marine Le Pen remains the party’s best-known figure, but she is appealing a March 2025 embezzlement conviction that barred her from public office for five years, with a verdict due July 7, 2026. If she cannot run, Bardella is seen as the most likely replacement.

The stakes reach well beyond Paris. France’s president sets the tone on immigration, the budget, defense and the country’s role inside the European Union, and the 2027 contest will also shape how Europe positions itself in NATO and across the Atlantic. The last time Macron faced Le Pen, he won the 2022 runoff with 58.55 percent of the vote to her 41.45 percent, on turnout of 72 percent, a reminder that the decisive fight may again hinge on whether anti-far-right voters can unite behind a single alternative.