Jordan Bardella has been overwhelmingly re-elected as the leader of France's National Rally (RN), securing 98.98% of the vote in an uncontested leadership election. The result was officially announced on Saturday, marking the start of the party's two-day congress held in Orléans. According to RN lawmaker Yoann Gillet, who oversaw the election process, Bardella received 75,497 votes, with 779 blank ballots cast. The election involved electronic voting conducted between 21 September and 22 October, with party member turnout reaching nearly 68%.
Ahead of the formal announcement, Bardella expressed his gratitude to party activists and called for continued unity behind Marine Le Pen’s presidential aspirations. "Once again, I am going to need you (…) to lead Marine Le Pen to the Élysée," he told his supporters. His re-election serves to solidify the division of roles between the party's two most prominent figures, who have positioned themselves as a "winning ticket" for the 2027 elections.
Under this strategic framework, Le Pen is expected to pursue the presidency, while Bardella is positioning himself as a potential prime minister should the party secure a parliamentary majority.
The Orléans congress is designed to showcase the party's unity and political program six months before the presidential election. Marine Le Pen is scheduled to address thousands of supporters on Sunday, where she is expected to outline the next phase of her campaign. Her entourage has indicated that the address will be a "high-calibre" speech centered on the theme of "rebirth." The party has already begun presenting its economic and social priorities, including an alternative budget unveiled earlier this month that challenges the government's fiscal proposals.
Furthermore, Le Pen emphasized housing and the cost of living as central pillars of her agenda during a speech in Hénin-Beaumont on 14 September.
The congress was accompanied by a large counter-demonstration in the streets of Orléans on Saturday. Authorities estimated the turnout at approximately 11,000, while organizers claimed the figure reached 26,000. Although officials had previously anticipated up to 30,000 demonstrators, the march remained peaceful. Several prominent left-wing politicians and trade union leaders participated, including Bally Bagayoko, the mayor of Saint-Denis and a leading figure in La France insoumise.
Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure accused the RN of contributing to a "poisonous, racist and xenophobic climate," while CGT trade union leader Sophie Binet declared that "there is no worse enemy of working men and women than the far right." This demonstration occurred amid heightened political and social tensions in France following a week of renewed protests and serious violence.
Saturday's turnout was lower than the more than 50,000 people who demonstrated against a National Front congress in Strasbourg in March 1997, which remains one of the largest protests against the party in its history.
