National Rally

Party name

At the FN congress of 2018, Marine Le Pen proposed renaming the party Rassemblement National (National Rally), and this was confirmed by a ballot of party members. Formerly strongly Eurosceptic, the National Rally changed policies in 2019, deciding to campaign for a reform of the EU rather than leaving it and to keep the euro as the main currency of France (together with the CFP franc for some collectivities). In 2021, Le Pen announced that she wanted to remain in the Schengen Area, but to reserve free movement to nationals of a European Economic Area country, excluding residents of and visitors from another Schengen country.

History

Background

The party's ideological roots can be traced to both Poujadism, a populist, small business tax protest movement founded in 1953 by Pierre Poujade and on right-wing dismay over the decision by French President Charles de Gaulle to abandon his promise of holding on to the colony of French Algeria, (many frontistes, including Le Pen, were part of an inner circle of returned servicemen known as Le cercle national des combattants). During the 1965 presidential election, Le Pen unsuccessfully attempted to consolidate the right-wing vote around presidential candidate Jean-Louis Tixier-Vignancour. Throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, the French far-right consisted mainly of small, extreme movements such as Occident, Groupe Union Défense (GUD), and the Ordre Nouveau (ON).

Espousing France's Catholic and monarchist traditions, one of the primary progenitors of the ideology generally promoted by FN was the Action Française, founded at the end of the 19th century, and its descendants in the Restauration Nationale, a pro-monarchy group that supports the claim of the Count of Paris to the French throne.

Early years

While Ordre Nouveau had competed in some local elections since 1970, at its second congress, in June 1972, it decided to establish a new political party to contest the 1973 legislative elections. The party was launched on 5 October 1972 under the name National Front for French Unity (Front national pour l'unité française), or Front National. In order to create a broad movement, ON sought to model the new party on the more established Italian Social Movement (MSI), which at the time appeared to establish a broad coalition of the Italian hard right. The FN adopted a French version of the MSI tricolour flame as its logo. ON wanted to unite the various French far-right currents, and brought together "nationals" of Le Pen's group and Roger Holeindre's Party of French Unity; "nationalists" from Pierre Bousquet's Militant movement or François Brigneau's and Alain Robert's Ordre Nouveau; the anti-Gaullist Georges Bidault's Justice and Liberty movement; as well as former Poujadists, Algerian War veterans, and some monarchists, among others. Le Pen was chosen to be the first president of the party, as he was untainted with the militant public image of the ON and was a relatively moderate figure in the far-right.

The National Front fared poorly in the 1973 legislative elections, receiving 0.5% of the national vote, although Le Pen won 5% in his Paris constituency. In 1973, the party created a youth movement, the Front national de la jeunesse (National Front of Youth; FNJ). The rhetoric used in the campaign stressed old, far-right themes and was largely uninspiring to the electorate at the time. Otherwise, its official program at this point was relatively moderate, differing little from the mainstream right's. Le Pen sought the "total fusion" of the currents in the party, and warned against "crude activism." The FNJ were banned from the party later that year. The move towards the mainstream cost it many leading members and much of its militant base.

In the 1974 presidential election, Le Pen failed to find a mobilising theme for his campaign, since many of its platform's major issues, such as anti-communism, were shared by most of the mainstream right. Other FN issues included calls for increased French birth rates, immigration reduction (although this was downplayed), establishment of a professional army, abrogation of the Évian Accords, and generally the creation of a "French and European renaissance." Despite being the only nationalist candidate, he failed to gain the support of the whole of the far-right, as the various groups either rallied behind other candidates or called for voter abstention. The campaign further lost ground when the Revolutionary Communist League made public a report of Le Pen's alleged involvement in torture during his time in Algeria. In his first participation in a presidential election, Le Pen won only 0.8% of the national vote.

Jean-Marie Le Pen's leadership

While the French party system had been dominated by polarisation and competition between the clear-cut ideological alternatives of two political blocs in the 1970s, the two blocs had largely moved towards the centre by the mid-1980s. This led many voters to perceive the blocs as more or less indistinguishable, particularly after the Socialists' "austerity turn" (tournant de la rigueur) of 1983, in turn inducing them to seek out to new political alternatives. By October 1982, Le Pen supported the prospect of deals with the mainstream right, provided that the FN did not have to soften its position on "key issues." In the 1983 municipal elections, the centre-right Rally for the Republic (RPR) and the centrist Union for French Democracy (UDF) formed alliances with the FN in a number of towns. The most notable result came in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, where Le Pen was elected to the local council with 11% of the vote. Subsequent by-elections kept media attention on the party, which was for the first time able to pose as a viable component of the broader right. In a by-election in Dreux in October 1983, the FN won 17% of the vote. With the choice of defeat to the political left or dealing with the FN, the local RPR and UDF agreed to form an alliance with the FN, causing a national sensation; together, they won the second round with 55% of the vote. The events in Dreux were a monumental turning point in the rise of the FN.

Le Pen protested the "media boycott" against his party by sending letters to President Mitterrand in mid-1982. Following an exchange of letters with Le Pen, Mitterrand instructed the heads of the main television channels to give equitable coverage to the FN. In January 1984, the party made its first appearance in a monthly poll of political popularity, in which 9% of respondents held a "positive opinion" of the FN and some support for Le Pen personally. The next month, Le Pen was, for the first time, invited on a prime-time television interview programme, which he himself later deemed "the hour that changed everything".

In the June 1984 European elections, the FN won 11% of the vote and ten seats, in a contest that was considered to have a low level of importance by the public, which played to the party's advantage. The FN, notably, made inroads in both right-wing and left-wing constituencies, and finished 2nd in a number of towns. While many Socialists had arguably exploited the party in order to divide the right, Mitterrand later conceded that he had underestimated Le Pen. By July, 17% of opinion poll respondents held a positive opinion of the FN.

Marine Le Pen's leadership

Jean-Marie Le Pen announced in September 2008 that he would retire as FN president in 2010. Le Pen's daughter Marine Le Pen and FN executive vice-president Bruno Gollnisch campaigned to succeed Le Pen, with Marine's candidacy backed by her father. On 15 January 2011, it was announced that Marine Le Pen had received the two-thirds vote needed to become the new leader of the FN. She embarked on a project to transform the FN into a "mainstream party" by softening its xenophobic image. Opinion polls showed the party's popularity increase under Marine Le Pen, and in the 2011 cantonal elections the party won 15% of the overall vote (up from 4.5% in 2008). However, due to the French electoral system, the party only won 2 of the 2,026 seats that were up for election. From January 2011 to December 2014 the FN's membership roughly tripled.

At the end of 2011, the National Front withdrew from the far-right Alliance of European National Movements and joined the more moderate European Alliance of Freedom. In October 2013, Bruno Gollnisch and Jean-Marie Le Pen resigned from their position in the AENM.

For the 2012 presidential election, opinion polls showed Marine Le Pen as a serious challenger, with a few polls even suggesting that she could win the first round of the election. In the event, Le Pen came 3rd in the first round, scoring 17.9% – the best showing ever in a presidential election for the FN at that time.

In the 2012 legislative election, the National Front won two seats: Gilbert Collard and Marion Maréchal.

In two polls about presidential favourites, conducted in April and May 2013, Marine le Pen polled ahead of president François Hollande but behind Nicolas Sarkozy.

In the municipal elections held on 23 and 30 March 2014, lists officially supported by the National Front won mayoralties in 12 cities: Beaucaire, Cogolin, Fréjus, Hayange, Hénin-Beaumont, Le Luc, Le Pontet, Mantes-la-Ville, the 7th arrondissement of Marseille, Villers-Cotterêts, Béziers and Camaret-sur-Aigues. While some of these cities were in southern France (like Fréjus) which traditionally votes more for right-wing parties than the rest of the country, others were located in northern France, where Socialist Party had been strong until the 2010s. Following these elections, the National Front had, in cities of over 1,000 inhabitants, 1,546 and 459 councilors at two different levels of local government. The international media described the results as "historic".

Jordan Bardella's leadership

Jordan Bardella was elected president of the RN on 5 November 2022, ending Marine Le Pen's period as president of the party. Le Pen remained president of the RN's parliamentary group.

In the 2024 European parliamentary elections, the RN won the most delegates of any single party (30). It won 31.4% of the vote, the first time since 1984 that a list had won more than 30% of the vote in a European Parliament election in France. On 8 July, Bardella became president of the Patriots for Europe, originally founded by Viktor Orbán with the Czech ANO and the Austrian FPÖ parties on a platform of refusing military aid to Ukraine, anti-immigration, and pro-"traditional family" values. The group, the third largest in the parliament, also includes members from the Flemish Vlaams Belang, the Dutch PVV, and the Italian Lega per Salvini Premier.

The National Rally's success in the European elections led to the dissolution of the French lower house by Emmanuel Macron on 9 June 2024.

In June 2024, the party joined with the micro-party "To the right! Friends of Eric Ciotti", forming the union of the far-right in the 2024 French legislative election. Together, these parties secured the largest share of the vote in the first round with 33.15% of the vote. More voters who reported struggling financially voted for the RN than for any other party.

Based on their first round performance, the RN will receive around €15 million per year in government subsidies for the next five years: each vote in the first round was worth €1.61 per year to the party.

According to opinion polls, the National Rally were expected to get 230–270 seats, close to an absolute majority, However, 2–3 days before the second round, the RN were predicted to win around 170–220 seats. After the exit polls on 7 July, that figure was reduced to 120–170 seats, and the New Popular Front were predicted to win 150–190 seats, slightly ahead of president Macron's Ensemble alliance. Finally, the RN won only 142 seats, ranking third in the election.

The National Rally won vast swathes of southern France, including every seat in the departement of Gard.

Policies

The party's ideology has been broadly described by scholars, including James Shields, Nonna Mayer, Jean-Yves Camus, Nicolas Lebourg and Michel Winock as nationalist, far-right (or Nouvelle Droite) and populist. Jean-Yves Camus and Nicolas Lebourg, following Pierre-André Taguieff's analysis, include the party in an old French tradition of "national populism" that can be traced back to Boulangism. National populists combine the social values of the left and the political values of the right and advocate a referendary republic that would bypass traditional political divisions and institutions. Aiming at unity of the political (the demos), ethnic (the ethnos), and social (the working class) interpretations of the "people", they claim to defend the "average Frenchman" and "common sense", against the "betrayal of inevitably corrupt elites". The party has been also described as national conservative.

The FN has changed considerably since its foundation, pursuing the principles of modernisation and pragmatism and adapting to the changing political climate. Its message increasingly influenced mainstream political parties, and some commentators described it as right-wing, moving closer towards the centre-right. In the 2010s, the party attempted to "de-demonise" its image and changed its name to National Rally. A 2022 Kanar survey found that 46% of French voters saw Marine Le Pen as "representing a patriotic Right attached to traditional values", although 50% saw her as "a danger to democracy".

Society

The party opposed the 2016 criminalisation of prostitution in France on the grounds that it would negatively affect the safety of sex workers.

In the 2002 legislative elections, the first under the new gender parity provision in the French Constitution, Le Pen's National Front was among the few parties to come close to meeting the law, with 49% female candidates; Jospin's Socialists had 36%, and Chirac's UMP had 19.6%. Women voters in France were traditionally more attracted to mainstream conservative parties than the radical right until the 2000s. The proportion of women in the party has risen to 39% by 2017.

In 2002, Jean-Marie Le Pen campaigned on a law-and-order platform of zero tolerance, harsher sentencing, increased prison capacity, and a referendum on re-introducing the death penalty. In its 2001 programme, the party linked the breakdown of law and order to immigration, deeming immigration a "mortal threat to civil peace in France."

Marine Le Pen rescinded the party's traditional support for the death penalty with her 2017 campaign launch, instead announcing support for imprisonment "in perpetuity" for the "worst crimes" in February 2017. In 2022, she proposed to hold a referendum on capital punishment in France if she were elected.

Immigration

Since its early years, the party has called for immigration to be reduced. The theme of exclusion of non-European immigrants was brought into the party in 1978 and became increasingly important in the 1980s.

After the 1999 split, the FN cultivated a more moderate image on immigration and Islam, no longer calling for the systematic repatriation of legal immigrants but still supporting the deportation of illegal, criminal, or unemployed immigrants.

Following the Arab Spring (2011) rebellions in several countries, Marine Le Pen campaigned for a halt to the migration of Tunisian and Libyan immigrants to Europe.

In November 2015, the party stated its goal to have a net legal immigration rate (immigrants minus emigrants) of 10,000 in France per year. Since 2017, that yearly net immigration rate was around 182,000 if one takes into account only people born abroad from non-French parents, but was around 44,000 if one also includes the departures and returns of French expatriates.

In 2022, Marine Le Pen proposed an end to "family reunification" rights for foreigners with residency permits and the end to the right to automatic citizenship for children born in France to foreigners living there. She also supported a referendum on immigration policy.

The National Rally has sought to restrict Islamic practice in France. In 2011, Marine Le Pen warned that wearing full-face veils is "the tip of the iceberg" of Islamisation of French culture. In 2021, and again in 2022, Le Pen again proposed banning the hijab (headscarf which only covers the head but not face) in public. Le Pen also proposed to ban the production of both halal and kosher meat. Le Pen says she is "against the visibility of Islam" but not Islam per se.

The National Rally is considered Islamophobic by many. The party has connected immigration to Islamic terrorism.

Economy

At the end of the 1970s, Jean-Marie Le Pen broke away from the anti-capitalist heritage of Poujadism and espoused a market liberal and anti-statist programme which included lower taxes, reducing state intervention, reducing the size of the public sector, privatisation, and scaling back government bureaucracy. Some scholars have characterised the FN's 1978 programme as "Reaganite before Reagan".

The party's economic policy shifted from the 1980s to the 1990s from neoliberalism to protectionism. This occurred within the framework of a changed international environment, from a battle between the Free World and Communism, to one between nationalism and globalisation. During the 1980s, Jean-Marie Le Pen complained about the rising number of "social parasites" and called for deregulation, tax cuts, and the phasing-out of the welfare state. As the party gained growing support from the economically vulnerable, it converted towards politics of social welfare and economic protectionism. This was part of its shift away from its former claim of being the "social, popular, and national right" to its claim of being "neither right nor left – French!" Increasingly, the party's program became an amalgam of free market and welfare policies. By the 2010s, some political commentators described its economic policies as left-wing.

Under Marine Le Pen, the RN has supported economic nationalism, which it calls "economic patriotism", and it has advocated populist policies, such as tax cuts for people under 30 years old, and cuts in the value-added tax on energy and essential products. The party has supported public services, protectionism, and economic intervention and opposed the increase in the fuel tax in 2018 and the increase in the retirement age in 2023.

Under Jordan Bardella, the RN has adopted more pro-market policies, including lower taxes and simplifying industrial norms. Bardella advocated an audit of public finances as a precursor to determining the 2025 budget. Bardella has sought to use these policies to court business support during the 2024 French legislative election campaign. During this time, Bardella also rescinded the prior RN pledge to repeal the 2023 French pension reform law. Bardella has been described as advocating economic liberalism, putting him in conflict with the economic vision of Marine Le Pen.

Climate

Le Pen does not plan to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement but has stated that climate change is "not the priority" of the party. The party is against measures to tackle climate change and protecting the environment. The National Rally has proposed abolition of the European Green Deal, highlighting key policies it opposes such as the 2035 ban on fossil fuel cars.

Foreign policy

From the 1980s to the 1990s, the party's policy shifted from favouring the European Union to turning against it. In 2002, Jean-Marie Le Pen campaigned on pulling France out of the EU and re-introducing the franc as the country's national currency. In the early 2000s, the party denounced the Schengen, Maastricht, and Amsterdam treaties as foundations for "a supranational entity spelling the end of France." In 2004, the party criticised the EU as "the last stage on the road to world government", likening it to a "puppet of the New World Order." It also proposed breaking all institutional ties back to the Treaty of Rome while it returned to supporting a common European currency to rival the United States dollar. Further, it rejected the possible accession of Turkey to the EU. The FN was also one of several parties that backed France's 2005 rejection of the Treaty for a European Constitution. In other issues, Le Pen opposed the invasions of Iraq, led by the United States, both in the 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 Iraq War. He visited Saddam Hussein in Baghdad in 1990 and subsequently considered him a friend.

Marine Le Pen advocated France leaving the euro, although that policy was dropped in 2019. She also intends to reintroduce customs borders and has campaigned against allowing dual citizenship. During both the 2010–2011 Ivorian crisis and the 2011 Libyan civil war, she opposed the French military involvements. However, the party supported the 2013 Operation Serval in Mali against Islamist militants in the country because it was at the request of the Malian government.

Le Pen has praised Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi for "fighting radical Islam", stating that Egypt's "ability to separate extremist Islam from the religion sets an example to the rest of the world, including France, of how to deal with poisonous ideologies". The party has also favourably contrasted the United Arab Emirates's opposition to Islamism with the more pro-Islamist position taken by Qatar. The party has advocated closer France–Morocco relations, criticising Macron's attempts to deepen ties with Algeria. In January 2023, the National Rally was one of only four parties in the European Parliament that voted against a resolution condemning Morocco's treatment of journalist Omar Radi. It praised the 2024 recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the Western Sahara and suggested the French government should have acted sooner.

Le Pen supports the restoration of France-Syria relations and called for cooperation with Israel, the United States, Russia, Iran, and Saudi Arabia to support the economic recovery of Lebanon from the Lebanese economic crisis.

Electoral reform and referendums

The National Rally has advocated for full proportional representation in France, claiming that the two-round system disenfranchises voters. In early 2021, Marine Le Pen, along with centrist politician François Bayrou and green politician Julien Bayou, cosigned a letter asking President Emmanuel Macron to implement proportional representation for future elections.

The party advocates referendums on key issues such as the death penalty, immigration policy, and constitutional change. In 2022, Marine Le Pen stated: "I want the referendum to become a classic operating tool."

Controversies

Opinions on the Holocaust and relations with Jewish groups

There has been a difference between Marine Le Pen's and her father's opinions concerning the Holocaust and Jews. In 2005, Jean-Marie Le Pen wrote in the far-right weekly magazine Rivarol that the German occupation of France "was not particularly inhumane, even if there were a few blunders, inevitable in a country of 640,000 square kilometres (250,000 sq. mi.)" and in 1987 referred to the Nazi gas chambers as "a point of detail of the history of the Second World War". He has repeated the latter claim several times. In 2004, Bruno Gollnisch said: "I do not question the existence of concentration camps, but historians could discuss the number of deaths. As to the existence of gas chambers, it is up to historians to determine". Jean-Marie Le Pen was fined for these remarks, but Gollnisch was found not guilty by the Court of Cassation. The leader of the party, Marine Le Pen, distanced herself for a time from the party machine in protest at her father's comments. In response to her father's remarks, Marine Le Pen referred to the Holocaust as the "abomination of abominations".

During the 2012 presidential election, Marine Le Pen sought the support of Jewish people in France. Interviewed by the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz about the fact that some of her European senior colleagues had formed alliances with, and visited, some Israeli settlers and groups, Marine Le Pen said: The shared concern about radical Islam explains the relationship ... but it is possible that behind it is also the need of the visitors from Europe to change their image in their countries ... As far as their partners in Israel are concerned, I myself don't understand the idea of continuing to develop the settlements. I consider it a political mistake and would like to make it clear in this context that we must have the right to criticise the policy of the State of Israel – just as we are allowed to criticise any sovereign country – without it being considered anti-Semitism. After all, the National Front has always been Zionistic and always defended Israel's right to exist. She has opposed the emigration of French Jews to Israel in response to radical Islam, explaining: "The Jews of France are Frenchmen, they're at home here, and they must stay here and not emigrate. The country is obligated to provide solutions against the development of radical Islam in problematic areas".

Czecho-Russian bank loan

In November 2014, Marine Le Pen confirmed that the party had received a €9 million loan from the First Czech Russian Bank (FCRB) in Moscow to the National Front. Senior FN officials from the party's political bureau informed Mediapart that this was the first instalment of a €40 million loan, although Marine Le Pen has disputed this. The Independent said the loans "take Moscow's attempt to influence the internal politics of the EU to a new level". Reinhard Bütikofer stated, "It's remarkable that a political party from the motherland of freedom can be funded by Putin's sphere—the largest European enemy of freedom". Marine Le Pen argued that it was not a donation from the Russian government but a loan from a private Russian bank because no other bank would give her a loan. This loan is meant to prepare future electoral campaigns and to be repaid progressively. Marine Le Pen has publicly disclosed all the rejection letters that French banks have sent to her concerning her loan requests. Since November 2014, she insists that if a French bank agrees to give her a loan, she would break her contract with the FCBR, but she has not received any other counter-propositions. Le Pen accused the banks of collusion with the government. In April 2015, a Russian hacker group published texts and emails between Timur Prokopenko, a member of Putin's administration, and Konstantin Rykov, a former Duma deputy with ties to France, discussing Russian financial support to the National Front in exchange for its support of Russia's annexation of Crimea, though this has not coalesced.

Identitarian links

A 2019 undercover investigation by Al Jazeera uncovered links between high-ranking National Rally figures and Generation Identity, a far-right Identitarian youth group. In secretly taped conversations, RN leaders endorsed goals of Generation Identity and discussed plans to "remigrate" immigrants, effectively sending them back to their countries of origin, if the RN came to power. Christelle Lechevalier, a RN Member of the European Parliament (MEP), said that many RN leaders held similar opinions as the GI, but sought to hide them from voters.

Payment of party officials with EU funds

In December 2023, 28 people, including Marine Le Pen and her father Jean Marie, were ordered to stand trial after they were charged with a scheme which involved paying National Rally party officials through EU funds which were earmarked for European Parliament assistants.

On 31 March 2025, 25 National Rally members (including Le Pen, 9 other former NR MEPs, and 12 assistants) were found guilty. The sentences for Le Pen and several former MEPs included bans from running for political office.

Le Pen has denied the allegations. Her appeal against both the verdict and sentence was heard at a Paris appeals court in early 2026. On July 7, the verdict was upheld, with a number of revisions and clarifications of the sentence, including the wearing of an ankle location monitor. The ruling would allow Le Pen to run for office.[3]

Organization

Leadership

The executive bureau features: Jordan Bardella (president), Steeve Briois (vice-president), Louis Aliot (vice-president), David Rachline (vice-president), Kévin Pfeffer (treasurer), Julien Sanchez (spokesperson), Gilles Pennelle (regional councilor), Edwige Diaz (deputy regional councilor), Hélène Laporte, Philippe Olivier, and Jean-Paul Garraud.

The party had five vice presidents between July 2012 and March 2018 (against three previously).

Alain Jamet, first vice president (2011–2014)

Louis Aliot, in charge of training and demonstrations (2011–2018)

Marie-Christine Arnautu, in charge of social affairs (2011–2018)

Jean-François Jalkh, in charge of elections and electoral litigations (2012–2018)

Florian Philippot, in charge of strategy and communication (2012–2017)

Steeve Briois, in charge of local executives and supervision (2014–2018)

Jordan Bardella, (2019–2022)

In March 2018, the position of vice-president replaced that of General Secretary. It became a duo in June 2019:

Louis Aliot

David Rachline

Steeve Briois (2018–2022)

Hélène Laporte (2022–present)

The position of General Secretary was held between 1972 and 2018:

Elected representatives

As of February 2023, the National Rally has 88 MPs. They sit in the National Assembly as members of the National Rally group.

International affiliation and relations

The FN has been part of several groups in the European Parliament. The first group it helped co-establish was the European Right after the 1984 election, which also consisted of the Italian Social Movement (MSI), its early inspiration, and the Greek National Political Union. Following the 1989 election, it teamed up with the German Republicans and the Belgian Vlaams Blok in a new European Right group, while the MSI left due to the Germans' arrival. As the MSI evolved into the National Alliance, it chose to distance itself from the FN.

From 1999 to 2001, the FN was a member of the Technical Group of Independents. In 2007, it was part of the short-lived Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty group. Between the mentioned groups, the party sat among the non-affiliated Non-Inscrits. It was part of the Identity and Democracy group.

It was formerly known as the Europe of Nations and Freedom group, during which time it also included the Polish Congress of the New Right, a former member of the UK Independence Party and a former member of Romania's Conservative Party. The RN has also been part of the Identity and Democracy Party (formerly the Movement for a Europe of Nations and Freedom) since 2014, which additionally includes Slovakia's We Are Family and the Bulgarian Volya Movement, which was later renamed Patriots.eu. After the 2024 European Parliament election, the National Rally joined the Patriots for Europe group with Fidesz, Vox, the Czech ANO 2011, the Portuguese Chega, the Greek Voice of Reason, Latvia First and most former ID members, with Bardella ultimately chairing the group.

During Jean-Marie Le Pen's presidency, the party has also been active in establishing extra-parliamentary confederations. During the FN's 1997 national congress, the FN established the loose Euronat group, which consisted of a variety of European right-wing parties. Having failed to cooperate in the European Parliament, Le Pen sought in the mid-1990s to initiate contacts with other far-right parties, including from non-EU countries. The FN drew most support in Central and Eastern Europe, and Le Pen visited the Turkish Welfare Party. The significant Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) refused to join the efforts, as Jörg Haider sought to distance himself from Le Pen, and later attempted to build a separate group. In 2009, the FN joined the Alliance of European National Movements; it left the alliance since. Along with some other European parties, the FN in 2010 visited Japan's Issuikai ("right-wing") movement and the Yasukuni Shrine.

Election results

The National Front was a marginal party in 1973, the first election it participated in, but the party made its breakthrough in the 1984 European Parliament election, where it won 11% of the vote and ten MEPs. Following this election, the party's support mostly ranged from around 10 to 15%, although it saw a drop to around 5% in some late 2000s elections. Since 2010, the party's support seems to have increased towards its former heights. The party managed to advance to the final round of the 2002 French presidential election, although it failed to attract much more support after the initial first round vote. In the late 2000s the party suffered decline in elections. Under Marine Le Pen's presidency the party has increased its vote share significantly. The National Front came first in a national election for the first time during the 2014 European elections, when it gained 24% of the vote. During the 2017 presidential election the party advanced to the second round of the election for the second time, and doubled the percentage it received in the 2002 presidential election, earning 34%. In the 2019 European elections the rebranded National Rally retained its spot as first party.

Le Pen reached the second round of the 2017 presidential election, receiving 33.9% of the votes in the run-off and losing to Emmanuel Macron. Again in the 2022 election, she lost to Macron in the run-off, receiving 41.45% of the votes. In the 2022 parliamentary elections, the National Rally achieved a significant increase in the number of its MPs in the National Assembly, from 7 to 89 seats. In June 2024, the party won the European Parliament elections in a landslide with 31.4% of the votes. This caused Macron to announce a snap election. Later that month, an RN-led right-wing coalition topped the first round of the snap French legislative election with a record 33.2% of the votes. On 7 July, the RN also won the popular vote (37.06%) in the second round of the snap election, but only won the third highest number of seats.