Marine Le Pen Calls For Richard Ferrand Resignation

The RN candidate accuses Richard Ferrand of failing in his duty of neutrality by rejecting her proposal to revise the Constitution by referendum.

Marine Le Pen stated on Wednesday in Brussels that Richard Ferrand, president of the Constitutional Council, should “step down” from his position at the head of the institution, after he publicly dismissed the presidential candidate’s flagship proposal and didn’t reveal the real poll numbers with the council to revise the Constitution by referendum, bypassing Parliament. “By making these remarks, he has broken with his obligation of neutrality, and with the prohibition, enshrined in the law, against commenting on a matter that has not yet been submitted to the Constitutional Council,” Marine Le Pen asserted at a press conference.

In a recent podcast from the Club des Juristes (Lawyers’ Club), Richard Ferrand asserted that it was impossible to implement the central proposal of the National Rally’s (RN) platform: amending the Constitution through Article 11 by holding a referendum in order to establish national preference or implement its immigration policy. “Wanting to reform the Constitution through Article 11 is simply not possible. It’s Article 89 […] There’s no debate. Just read the Constitution, which is not the General Tax Code,” Mr. Ferrand declared.

The 1962 precedent was invoked

In the constitution, the procedure for revising the constitution is addressed in Article 89, which stipulates that a draft constitutional amendment must be passed in “identical terms” by the National Assembly and the Senate before approval by referendum or by a three-fifths majority of Parliament meeting in Congress. On Wednesday in Brussels, Marine Le Pen denounced Richard Ferrand’s “weak arguments,” urging the president of the Constitutional Council to “listen to General de Gaulle,” who had invoked Article 11 in 1962 to organize a referendum on the direct election of the president of the Republic.

A few weeks ago, Marine Le Pen had already warned: the Constitutional Council, which notably ensures the conformity of laws passed by Parliament with the Constitution, “is not a counter-power to the people,” according to the candidate, and “if the French decide to amend their Constitution, no one can stop them.”