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France's Constitutional Council on Monday rejected a demand by Marine Le Pen's far-right party that its president be removed, according to a letter seen by AFP.

    Lawmakers from her National Rally (RN) party and its ally, the Union of the Right for the Republic (UDR), had urged the constitutional court to remove its chief in a showdown over presidential candidate Le Pen's referendum plans.

    Constitutional Council head Richard Ferrand, who began a nine-year term in 2025, had been accused by the far-right of overstepping his role by speaking out against amending the constitution through a referendum without parliamentary approval.

    The reform is central to Le Pen's presidential agenda, notably to introduce a "national preference" policy and to implement her immigration programme.

    "It doesn't exist," Ferrand said in a recent podcast, referring to the idea of reforming the constitution by referendum. "There is no debate."

    The Constitutional Council, through its most senior member Alain Juppe, dismissed the request to remove Ferrand on both procedural and substantive grounds.

    In a letter addressed to RN lower-house leader Jean-Philippe Tanguy, UDR parliamentary chief Eric Ciotti, and RN Senate leader Edwige Diaz, Juppe said the procedure initiated by the lawmakers had "no constitutional basis."

    Only the Constitutional Council itself may "declare the automatic removal of one of its members, provided certain conditions are met," wrote the former prime minister, referring to provisions that "enshrine the independence" of the institution and uphold the principle of separation of powers.

    Juppe argued that Ferrand had merely "described the current state of the law".

    Le Pen has argued that General Charles de Gaulle relied on Article 11 in 1962 to hold a referendum introducing the direct election of the French president by universal suffrage.

    "Not everyone can be de Gaulle," Ferrand said on the podcast, adding that "times have changed" since then.

    Juppe also noted in his letter that the court was responsible for ensuring the proper conduct of referendums, implicitly warning that any attempt to hold one under Article 11 would likely face scrutiny from the Constitutional Council.