French singer and political activist Francis Lalanne has officially announced his candidacy for the 2027 presidential election, presenting himself as an outsider determined to break with France’s existing political system.
Lalanne, 68, will hold his “first major campaign rally” on August 21 at the Théâtre Galabru in Paris, a roughly 100-seat venue on the Montmartre hill. The event is expected to mark the official launch of his campaign, backed by the citizen movement France Libre, which he first floated in June to almost no attention.
The candidate says his platform will focus on restoring national sovereignty, reforming the justice system and introducing a more direct and participatory form of democracy. His campaign describes the candidacy as an attempt to bring about a “break with the current political system”.
His campaign website also highlights several key issues. Among the main proposals are “Frexit”, France’s withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal from NATO, the citizen-initiated referendum (RIC), and “holistic health”.
The same programme calls for a return to the franc, withdrawal from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the repeal of what it terms laws that muzzle public debate, naming the 1972 Pleven law against racism, the 1990 Gayssot law penalising Holocaust denial and the 2020 Avia law on online hate speech.
Known primarily as a pop singer, he became increasingly involved in protest movements, including the yellow vest movement, and later became associated with anti-Covid vaccine activism and various conspiracy-oriented positions. He backed National Rally leader Marine Le Pen in the second round of the 2022 presidential election.
His 2027 campaign is also being supported by controversial comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala, who has repeatedly been convicted by French courts for statements deemed to constitute racial hatred.
In 2024, Lalanne headed the France Libre list for the European Parliament elections, with Dieudonné placed third on the list. The ticket presented itself as an alternative to what it called the “political dictatorship”. Official election data shows that France Libre received just 5,474 votes, or 0.02 per cent of the national vote, and it won no seats.
That result carried a legal consequence. On April 17, 2025, the Conseil d’État, France’s highest administrative court, declared Lalanne ineligible for 18 months after he failed to file campaign accounts for the European contest.
The penalty runs until mid-October 2026 and already blocked him from standing in the Lyon municipal elections in March 2026, where a legal challenge against the ruling was rejected.
The 2027 presidential bid therefore represents another attempt by Lalanne to turn his anti-establishment activism into electoral support.
The presidential election is expected to be dominated by prominent political figures, which could make it difficult for Lalanne to collect the 500 sponsorships from elected officials required to appear on the ballot. Those signatures must come from at least 30 different departments or overseas collectivities, with no more than a tenth drawn from any single one.
Lalanne joins the 16 politicians who have formally declared their candidacy, while around thirty others have either signalled their intention to run or are widely expected to enter the contest. The first round is scheduled for April 18, 2027, with a run-off on May 2.
