Marine Le Pen Makes the Referendum the Cornerstone of Her 2027 Presidential Bid
In Orléans on October 25, 2026, Marine Le Pen positioned the national referendum as the central pillar of her proposed government if elected president, setting the stage for the June 2027 legislative campaign. Speaking to supporters, she invoked Article 2 of the French Constitution concerning government by the people, while outlining plans for public votes on immigration, fiscal policy, and Islamist ideologies.
Le Pen’s strategy bypasses conventional institutional checks by framing her campaign as a direct appeal to the electorate. “We will respect the will of citizens and restore through the referendum their rights to political expression,” she stated at the Orléans gathering. Since the political rentrée, her platform has centered on three distinct referendum proposals aimed at constitutional measures regarding immigration, a budgetary golden rule, and restrictions on religious symbols such as the Islamic veil.
Legal Scholars Warn of Constitutional Limits on Referendums
The candidate’s reliance on referendums has triggered sharp warnings from legal scholars and institutional figures who cite strict constitutional limits. While Le Pen references Article 2 of the Constitution, critics and constitutional experts point to Article 3, which establishes that national sovereignty belongs to the people exercised through their representatives and via referendums. More crucially, legal authorities note that utilizing Article 11 to revise the Constitution is not legally permissible under established jurisprudence.
Jean-Éric Schœttl, the former secretary-general of the Constitutional Council, has characterized the proposed circumvention as a “coup d’état.” Similar warnings have been echoed across decades by successive heads of the Constitutional Council, including Robert Badinter, Pierre Mazeaud, Jean-Louis Debré, and Laurent Fabius. The institution itself reiterated its oversight mandate when Alain Juppé, speaking for the council, rejected a demand from the Rassemblement national to seek the resignation of Richard Ferrand, stating that the council is legally charged with ensuring the regularity of any referendum operations.
Campaign Cites De Gaulle to Justify Direct Appeals
Le Pen’s camp acknowledges the institutional friction ahead. A close advisor to the candidate noted that social forces and control bodies like the Council of State and the Constitutional Council are expected to offer resistance, making direct appeals to the electorate the primary mechanism for enacting policy. To justify this approach, the campaign points to historical precedents, notably Charles de Gaulle’s 1962 referendum on electing the president by universal suffrage—though legal historians observe that de Gaulle’s maneuver also faced fierce institutional hostility at the time.
The strategy also revives debates over the political risks associated with direct public consultation. Previous administrations have wrestled with the tool, from Nicolas Sarkozy’s proposals during the 2016 right-wing primary to François Hollande’s calls for democratic breathing room. Furthermore, the prospect of a negative outcome—echoing the 2005 rejection of the European Constitution—remains a persistent variable. While Le Pen previously tied her political future to the outcome of a potential euro-exit referendum during her 2017 campaign, her current stance on the definitive consequences of a hypothetical referendum defeat in 2027 remains unclarified.
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