The next French presidential election is scheduled to be held by 2027 at the latest, and the far-right National Rally party is likely to win.
Founded by Jean-Marie Le Pen, a notorious anti-Semite, the party was formerly known as the National Front and was a fringe party until his daughter, Marine, took over. Marin cleansed the party of toxins, then attracted the talented young man Jordan Bardella to be the face of the party for the current decade. The party, along with Marin, reflects voters' economic dissatisfactionTheir disgust with French political culture, while strongly criticizing the “mass immigration” of Muslims and foreign “criminals,” is a stark reminder of Donald Trump’s strategy to win the presidency. France, at the center of the European project, is the next big prize for the far right.In 2024, the National Rally became the largest party in both the European Parliament and the French Parliament. In vivid, sharp prose, veteran correspondent Victor Mallet explains, from the corridors of power to the election campaigns, how the far right conquered the country and became a government in waiting - one poised to transform France, Europe and the world.
