Constitutional Council Refuses Far-Right Bid to Oust Richard Ferrand

Overview

• The Constitutional Council on Monday, October 26, rejected a demand from Rassemblement National and Union des droites parliamentarians to force the resignation of council president Richard Ferrand.
• The lawmakers accused Ferrand of breaching neutrality after he said in a podcast that using Article 11 to revise the constitution “doesn't exist,” a comment the Council framed as a legal description rather than a partisan intervention.
• In a letter, doyen Alain Juppé wrote that the removal procedure had no constitutional basis and that only the Council itself may declare an automatic removal of a member if strict conditions are met.
• Juppé also invoked Article 60, reminding that the Council oversees referendum regularity, which signals that any attempt to change the constitution via Article 11 would be subjected to legal review by the Sages.
• The decision protects the Council’s institutional independence and raises the legal bar for Marine Le Pen’s plan to use a referendum to enact measures such as national preference, so observers should watch for future procedural or court challenges if the referendum route is pursued.