France Sets Presidential Election Dates as Macron Term Nears End

(PARIS) – French voters will go to the polls to elect a new president on 18 April and 2 May next year, two government officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision has not yet been officially announced.

The election details, first published by the local newspaper Ouest France, are expected to be officially announced after a government meeting on Wednesday morning.

Legal and constitutional constraints on the dates of French presidential elections meant the only other possible dates were 11 and 25 April. The chosen dates place the election closer to 13 May, when Emmanuel Macron’s second term ends.

Macron is constitutionally barred from running for a third consecutive term. A large number of candidates are already competing for his position, including two of his former prime ministers, Édouard Philippe and Gabriel Attal, as well as radical left leader Jean Luc Mélenchon.

The candidate from the National Rally party is seen as the favourite. The far right party has not yet decided whether to put forward long time leader Marine Le Pen or new generation candidate Jordan Bardella. The decision depends on a court ruling regarding her appeal in a case of EU fund embezzlement and a ban on holding public office.

In related developments, French President Emmanuel Macron has stated that the United States has for the first time approved a text in which Washington recognises itself not as a neutral mediator in the war in Ukraine, but as a partner of Kyiv. Speaking during a briefing, Macron said the G7 meeting in Évian allowed an important convergence of positions among partners. He noted that at the level of Ukraine, the United States for the first time recorded in the text that they are no longer neutral mediators, but together with allies support the territorial integrity of Ukraine, military and energy support, as well as sanctions against Russia.

Russia now wants to understand whether US President Donald Trump has really changed his position on the war in Ukraine following Macron’s statements at the G7 summit this month that such changes had occurred.