Emmanuel Macron candidate in 2027? How the President Could Bypass the Constitution

Will Emmanuel Macron’s second term be his last? Article 6 of the Constitution indicates this very clearly: “The President of the Republic is elected for five years by direct universal suffrage. No one may serve more than two consecutive terms”. However, according to some experts in the political system, the head of state could well come back again in 2027.

As BFMTV relates, it was an opinion from the highest administrative court, the Council of State, which raised awareness of such a possibility. This had been seized on September 7, 2022 by the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, in order to rule on the possibility of Edouard Fritch, President of French Polynesia, to stand for a third term.

If the organic law explicitly indicates that the president of this overseas collectivity “cannot exercise more than two consecutive 5-year terms”, a vagueness remains on this precise situation. During his first election, the Polynesian Head of State succeeded Gaston Flosse who had just resigned and then served a first term of only 4 years. Thus, on October 25, the Council of State finally gave the green light to the president for a third candidacy.

At first glance, this decision does not seem to concern Emmanuel Macron since the situation is very different in France. However, this could still open a door to the current President of the Republic for a potential new candidacy in 2027.

For Jean-Jacques Urvoas, former Minister of Justice and Keeper of the Seals, the option of a new candidacy can be realized on one condition. “Let’s imagine that he dissolves the National Assembly, loses the legislative elections and resigns. The President of the Senate would then take over and a new election would be organized”, he explains to our colleagues from L’Opinion.

“As he would not have served two full successive terms, he could be a candidate,” he continues. But the subject lends itself to debate among experts. Dominique Chagnollaud, professor of constitutional law who worked alongside Edouard Balladur on the 2008 constitutional reform, believes with BFMTV that “this text does not talk about the end of his mandates but about ‘his mandates’ period. Emmanuel Macron was elected twice so he cannot run again in 2027, regardless of whether he completes his five-year term.

In any case, if such a situation were to arise, it would be up to the Constitutional Council to decide on the subject. However, if Emmanuel Macron has not yet shown any potential desire to adopt this strategy, some of his relatives believe that he may not be able to leave the Elysée for good in 2027 by representing himself in 2032. .

“Behind the scenes, he is preparing his return to the Elysée in 2032. That is his goal today”. This is what a close friend of Emmanuel Macron says to La Tribune. Indeed, after the election of a successor in 2027, nothing would prevent the current head of state from running again in 2032.

Moreover, he would then be only 55 years old, only three years older than Nicolas Sarkozy at the time of his election. By making this choice, Emmanuel Macron could become the president to have been elected the most times, a way to surpass his predecessors of the Fifth Republic, from De Gaulle to François Mitterrand.