The French return to the polls this Sunday to elect their local representatives. France is holding the first round of municipal elections, votes that don't usually carry national weight. However, this time, the proximity of the presidential elections—scheduled for spring 2027—will mean that the results will be interpreted through the lens of national politics. Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally (RN), a party that has traditionally had a weak local presence, wants the municipal elections to be its springboard to the Élysée Palace. Le Pen and her right-hand man—and likely presidential candidate if she is definitively barred from running—Jordan Bardella, want to translate their strong showing in the recent legislative and European elections into more mayoralties. This won't be easy because the RN's limited local presence means it can't field candidates in a significant number of municipalities. There's an anecdote that perfectly illustrates the situation: Bardella won't be able to vote for a candidate from the party he leads because Garches, the municipality of 17,000 inhabitants where he lives on the outskirts of Paris, doesn't have a candidate from Réagrupament Nacional.

With the five-year ban on National Rally leader Marine Le Pen, which will rule her out of the 2027 presidential race, all eyes are now on Jordan Bardella. He is Le Pen's designated candidate to take her place. She has been preparing him for this moment for years. The far-right leader was aware that her ban could come, and in the last year she has ceded the spotlight to Bardella, an MEP and current leader of the party in Brussels. He is also the party's president. In France, he is already part of the political and media scene, but outside the country, he is still largely unknown. Who is Le Pen's successor?