Bruno Retailleau announced his candidacy for the 2027 presidential election on Thursday. The boss of the Les Républicains party had been deprived of light since his departure from the Ministry of the Interior in October. This announcement cuts the ground from under the feet of its competitors on the right, like Xavier Bertrand or Michel Barnier.

Published on: 02/12/2026 - 6:07 p.m. Modified on: 02/12/2026 - 6:09 p.m.

The announcement had been in the air for a few days, it is now official: the president of the Les Républicains (LR) party, Bruno Retailleau, announced, Thursday February 12, his candidacy for the 2027 presidential election, with the hope of overtaking his competitors.

“I wanted to inform you personally that I am preparing to declare my candidacy for the presidential election.” It was with a message addressed to each parliamentarian of his party that the boss of LR put an end to the suspense. So here he is officially launched in the race for the Élysée, at 65 years old. “It’s a decision that I have thought about a lot,” adds the former Minister of the Interior.

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In a speech broadcast live on YouTube at 6 p.m., before an appearance on TF1 at 8 p.m., Bruno Retailleau affirmed that "only the presidential election allows us to really act", and expressed his refusal to see "a France which is sinking (and) fading into an increasingly threatening world". “To confront the disorders in the world, our country will first have to put its affairs in order” and “only the presidential election allows us to really act,” he declared.

This strong man from the conservative right “thinks that the time has come for (his) political family to show the French a new path, focused on order, prosperity and French pride”. A right-handed positioning, coupled with an early declaration, more than a year before the deadline, to better pull the rug from under the feet of its rivals.

An announcement with a “very personal logic”

Because, on the right and in the center, the main supposed contenders are reserving themselves for the spring, with the exception of Édouard Philippe. But the boss of Horizons, candidate since September 2024, is first seeking re-election as mayor of Le Havre.

One month before the first round of municipal elections, Bruno Retailleau's initiative is welcomed positively by his successor at the head of the LR group in the Senate, Mathieu Darnaud, who sees it as "the opportunity to influence the public debate with ideas".

On the contrary, a serving minister, who worked with him in government, judges "the timing extremely bad" and considers that his former colleague is "in a very personal logic".

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In his inner circle, some urged him to reveal himself in January, others to wait until the evening of March 22 and possible conquests at the expense of the left in Paris, Lyon or Besançon. But the rout during a partial legislative election at the beginning of February in Haute-Savoie against the Union of Rights for the Republic (UDR) of Éric Ciotti – ally of the National Rally (RN) – undoubtedly precipitated things.

Is it really a coincidence of timing? The announcement comes the day after the end of Marine Le Pen's appeal trial, the verdict of which will be announced on July 7. Until this date, doubt will remain over the identity of the RN candidate, even if the double finalist of 2017 and 2022, and her runner-up Jordan Bardella largely dominate the polls at this stage, with more than 30% of voting intentions.

Retailleau's "wind gap", whose popularity melted in a few months

Without an incumbent, since Emmanuel Macron cannot run again, the election sharpens many ambitions.

On the left, the Insoumis leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon makes no secret that he will be a candidate, while the Ecologist Marine Tondelier is on the starting line of a primary that she hopes to organize with part of the left, on October 11.

In this context, Bruno Retailleau had been going through "a gap" since his departure from Beauvau in October, as one of his relatives recognizes. Its rating halved in a few months, from 16% in the spring to 8% at the end of the year. “He lost a lot, but did not return to the starting point”, before his time at the Ministry of the Interior, those around him reassure themselves.

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Now alone at the helm of LR, he makes the "act of authority" desired by another close friend, a supporter of the "fait accompli" to impose this candidacy on a strongly divided party.

Internally, rivalries are intensifying between potential candidates for the Élysée: Xavier Bertrand is already in the running, while Michel Barnier poses as a unifier of the right and the center. David Lisnard threatens to run directly if there is no primary. In ambush, the boss of the deputies Laurent Wauquiez pleads for a primary ranging from the macronist Gérald Darmanin to Sarah Knafo, of the far-right Reconquête party.

To decide between them, Bruno Retailleau had entrusted a working group with the task of defining the method of designating the LR candidate. His conclusions were expected by the end of the month, but the boss took the lead.

With AFP

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