The far-right tradition in France finds its origins in the Third Republic with Boulangism and the Dreyfus affair. In the 1880s, General Georges Boulanger, called "General Revenge", championed demands for military revenge against Imperial Germany as retribution for the defeat and fall of the Second French Empire during the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71). This stance, known as revanchism, began to exert a strong influence on French nationalism. Soon thereafter, the Dreyfus affair provided one of the political division lines of France. French nationalism, which had been largely associated with left-wing and Republican ideologies before the Dreyfus affair, turned after that into a main trait of the right-wing and, moreover, of the far right. A new right emerged, and nationalism was reappropriated by the far-right who turned it into a form of ethnic nationalism, blended with anti-Semitism, xenophobia, anti-Protestantism and anti-Masonry. The Action française (AF), first founded as a journal and later a political organization, was the matrix of a new type of counter-revolutionary right-wing, which continues to exist today. During the interwar period, the Action française and its youth militia, the Camelots du Roi, were very active. Far right leagues organized riots.
Bruno Daniel Marie Paul Retailleau is a French politician who has presided over The Republicans group in the Senate since 2014. He has represented the Vendée department in the Senate since 2004. Retailleau also served as President of the General Council of Vendée from 2010 to 2015 and President of the Regional Council of Pays de la Loire from 2015 until 2017.
Damien Abad is a French politician who briefly served as Minister of Solidarity in the government of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne in 2022.
The Republicans is a liberal conservative political party in France, largely inspired by the tradition of Gaullism. The party was formed on 30 May 2015 as the re-incorporation of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), which had been established in 2002 under the leadership of then-President of France, Jacques Chirac.
Legislative elections were held in France on 11 and 18 June 2017 to elect the 577 members of the 15th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic. They followed the two-round presidential election won by Emmanuel Macron. The centrist party he founded in 2016, La République En Marche! (LREM), led an alliance with the centrist Democratic Movement (MoDem); together, the two parties won 350 of the 577 seats—a substantial majority—in the National Assembly, including an outright majority of 308 seats for LREM. The Socialist Party (PS) was reduced to 30 seats and the Republicans (LR) reduced to 112 seats, and both parties' allies also suffered from a marked drop in support; these were the lowest-ever scores for the centre-left and centre-right in the legislative elections. The movement founded by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, la France Insoumise (FI), secured 17 seats, enough for a group in the National Assembly. Among other major parties, the French Communist Party (PCF) secured ten and the National Front (FN) obtained eight seats. Both rounds of the legislative election were marked by record low turnout.
Renaissance (RE) is a liberal and centrist political party in France. The party was originally known as En Marche ! and later La République En Marche !, before adopting its current name in September 2022. RE is the leading force of the centrist Together coalition, coalesced around Emmanuel Macron's original presidential majority.
Marine Brenier-Ohanessian is a French politician who served as a member of the French National Assembly from 2016 to 2022, representing the 5th constituency of the department of Alpes-Maritimes. She is a member of two political center-right parties, Horizons and La France Audacieuse.
Christophe Jerretie is a French politician of the La République En Marche! (LREM) who was a member of the French National Assembly from 2017–2022, representing the department of Corrèze. From 2017–2020 he was a member of La République En Marche! (LREM).
Maxime Minot is a French politician who has represented the 7th constituency of the Oise department in the National Assembly between 2017 and 2024. A member of The Republicans (LR), he previously held the mayorship of Étouy from 2014 to 2017. Minot has also held a seat in the Departmental Council of Oise for the canton of Clermont since 2021.
Pierre-Henri Dumont is a French politician of the Republicans who has been serving as a member of the National Assembly from June 2017 to 2024, representing the Pas-de-Calais's 7th constituency. His constituency contains the port city of Calais.
Jean-Louis Masson is a French politician and retired Gendarmerie officer who represented the 3rd constituency of the Var department in the National Assembly from 2017 until his resignation in 2020. A member of The Republicans (LR), he has served as Mayor of La Garde since 2020, previously holding the office from 2001 to 2017. Masson has also presided over the Departmental Council of Var since 2022.
Legislative elections were held in France on 12 and 19 June 2022 to elect the 577 members of the 16th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic. The elections took place following the 2022 French presidential election, which was held in April 2022. They have been described as the most indecisive legislative elections since the establishment of the five-year presidential term in 2000 and subsequent change of the electoral calendar in 2002. The governing Ensemble coalition remained the largest bloc in the National Assembly but substantially lost its ruling majority, resulting in the formation of France's first minority government since 1993; for the first time since 1997, the incumbent president of France did not have an absolute majority in Parliament. As no alliance won a majority, it resulted in a hung parliament for the first time since 1988.
Reconquête, stylized as Reconquête!, is a nationalist political party in France founded in late 2021 by Éric Zemmour, who has since served as its leader. He was a far-right candidate in the 2022 presidential election, in which he placed fourth with just over 7% of the vote as the best newcomer.
The 16th legislature of the Fifth French Republic was elected in the 2022 French legislative election. It was preceded by the 15th legislature. On 9 June 2024, following a defeat in the 2024 European Parliament Elections, President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the National Assembly, as per article 12 of the Constitution of the Fifth French Republic, and called for snap elections on 30 June and 7 July.
Anne-Sophie Frigout is a French educator and politician affiliated to the National Rally. She was elected as a deputy for Marne's 2nd constituency during the 2022 French legislative election. She was previously vice-president of the Debout la France party.
Legislative elections were held in France on 30 June and 7 July 2024 to elect all 577 members of the 17th National Assembly of the Fifth French Republic. The election followed the dissolution of the National Assembly by President Emmanuel Macron, triggering a snap election after the National Rally (RN) made substantial gains and Macron's Besoin d'Europe electoral list lost significant number of seats in the 2024 European Parliament election in France.
The Union of the Far-Right is a political and electoral descriptor created by the French Ministry of the Interior for the 2024 French legislative election to denote candidates from The Republicans (LR) party that are supported and endorsed by the National Rally (RN). Le Monde classifies these investitures as joint LR–RN candidacies.
The National Rally–The Republicans alliance crisis was triggered by the formation of the Union of the Far-Right, an alliance between Éric Ciotti, the president of The Republicans (LR), and the National Rally (RN) ahead of the 2024 French legislative election. LR MPs and senators questioned claims the alliance was revolutionary. Unprecedentedly in France, the senior members unanimously removed its president for unsanctioned negotiations and disrespect for party statutes. This broke the traditional cordon sanitaire against the far-right, a major party allying with the National Rally.
