Marine Tondelier, leader of France’s Greens, has showned support for acts of “civil disobedience” if the rightwinger National Rally (RN) wins the 2027 presidential election, suggesting that she could herself take part in such actions.
Speaking to French media Tondelier was asked whether she expected demonstrations or civil disobedience in the event of a Marine Le Pen victory.
“Yes, but I know there will be very few,” she replied.
Tondelier went on to accuse parts of French society of “a form of cowardice” and what she called the “silence of slippers” in the face of the RN’s growing support in opinion polls.
“And I know that I know how to do it, and I know who knows how to do it,” she added, appearing to hint that she and other activists could participate in such resistance.
Asked whether refusing to accept the result of an election would be anti-Republican, Tondelier rejected the premise.
“Do you think they are Republicans?” she responded. “In fact, we are going to enter another world. That’s what you don’t understand.”
The Green leader, who is herself positioning herself for the 2027 presidential race, insisted that an RN victory would not constitute a normal political alternation.
“This is not an alternation like the others,” she said, warning that some people would only understand the consequences of an RN government once its policies began affecting them directly.
Tondelier nevertheless stopped short of calling for the RN to be banned, insisting that: “We’re not there yet.”
She also discussed the possibility of imposing a “media cordon sanitaire” on the RN, pointing to Belgium as an example and claiming that public broadcaster RTBF does not invite RN figures onto its programmes.
“Here, where we are, it is impossible now,” she said, while arguing that France was caught in an “infernal cycle”.
The comments come as the French left struggles to agree on a strategy for the 2027 presidential election. Tondelier has called on left-wing parties to overcome their “party machine logic” and unite, but the Greens remain divided over whether to support former MEP Raphaël Glucksmann or seek closer ties with Jean-Luc Mélenchon and La France Insoumise.
Former Green presidential candidate Yannick Jadot said today that he was backing Raphaël Glucksmann, arguing that political ecology was not currently capable of “uniting and winning” the presidential election.
Jadot is set to join Glucksmann’s campaign and help prepare an “ecological state of emergency” for his first 100 days in office.
Another prominent Green figure, Paris MP Sandrine Rousseau, is pushing the party in the opposite direction. Rousseau has called for an internal vote leading to an “alliance and discussions” with Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
Tondelier has so far resisted backing either candidate, insisting that the Greens should pursue their own campaign.
