France's Constitutional Council rejected a demand on Monday, 26 October, to remove its president, Richard Ferrand, after lawmakers from the far-right National Rally and its ally the Union of the Rights called for his resignation.
In a formal letter, the institution stated that there is no constitutional basis to strip Ferrand of his duties as president of the body. The response was addressed to Jean-Philippe Tanguy, deputy president of the National Rally group in the National Assembly, Éric Ciotti, president of the Union of the Rights parliamentary group, and Edwige Diaz, leader of the National Rally senators.
The council wrote that only the Constitutional Council itself has the power to declare the compulsory resignation of one of its members, provided certain conditions are met. It added that these rules enshrine the independence of the institution and implement the constitutional principle of the separation of powers.
Dispute over Article 11 and constitutional referendums
Parliamentarians from the National Rally, known in France as the Rassemblement national, and the Union of the Rights, or Union des droites, had demanded the departure of the former government minister, who previously served under President Emmanuel Macron. The two parties accused Ferrand of overstepping his role as council president by taking a stance against revising the French Constitution through a referendum without going through Parliament via Article 11.
Marine Le Pen wishes to use that Article 11 referendum route to revise the Constitution if she wins the French presidency and reaches the Élysée Palace in Paris. However, according to Alain Juppé, a former French prime minister who serves as the longest-standing member among the council's panel, known informally in France as the Wise Ones, Ferrand merely described the exact state of French law.
Juppé wrote that Ferrand had simply recalled that only the procedure set out in Article 89 of the Constitution allows the Constitution to be revised, to the exclusion of any other method. Under Article 89, a constitutional revision bill must first be passed in identical terms by both the National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament, and the Senate, the upper house, before being approved either by referendum or by a three-fifths majority of Parliament meeting together in Congress.
Role of the Constitutional Council and Ferrand's term
Established in 1958 under the Constitution of the Fifth Republic, the Constitutional Council is France's highest constitutional authority, responsible for reviewing whether legislation conforms to the Constitution and overseeing national elections and referendums.
The president of the Constitutional Council holds a nine-year term. In office since March 2025, Ferrand is theoretically due to remain in his post until 2034.
