He waited until the end of the summer to definitively close this chapter. Guest of the 8 p.m. news on France 2, Monday August 31, Michel-Edouard Leclerc put an end to the suspense and officially – and very solemnly – announced his non-candidacy for the presidential election: “It's not for me, I'm not legitimate.” Mass is said.
At the beginning of July, however, the message was very different: “I might want to go,” he dared on the air of RMC-BFM. But now, through his very political summer meetings on the roads of the Tour de France, on his Breton lands or in the media, the representative of the more than 750 stores of the brand that bears his name has started to backpedal. “After having met everyone, after having seen how this campaign is presented”, the businessman confirms to franceinfo that he has “put an end to these reflections and speculations”.
“The polls put him in the lead, and that amuses him”
“It was not me who put myself forward,” recalls the entrepreneur, who judges the polling institutes guilty of having launched the rumor of his candidacy, by testing the credibility of such a scenario from 2025. “I was perplexed to find myself not a trader, but a political product,” he assures, almost candidly. In a recent Odoxa survey for Le Figaro published in mid-July, the mass distribution boss even came in first place among so-called "alternative" personalities, being considered a good candidate by 23% of respondents.
"When I saw the front page of 'Challenges' titled 'Elysée 2027, and if it was him...', I almost had a heart attack."
Michel-Edouard Leclerc
at franceinfo
A thesis that the merchant nevertheless embraced with relish. “The polls put him in the lead, and that amuses him,” confirms an actor in the sector, who knows the “French’s favorite boss” well, according to a ranking from Forbes magazine dated 2021. “It also gives credit to his action, and it strengthens him to speak out on all subjects,” he analyzes.
A word that resonates on all channels, or almost. The native of Landerneau (Finistère) appears on television sets and in radio morning shows at a frantic pace. A speaker of "true speaking", he defends, in each of his media interventions, the purchasing power of the "consumer", this citizen with a wallet. But above all, the man who spent his schooling in a small seminary run by Jesuits describes himself in the press as an “evangelist of Leclerc”. He preaches the good word of the group he represents, but which he no longer leads. Instead, since 2019, he has taken on the role of chairman of the strategic committee.
But this statutorily ineffective boss still remains influential internally, according to Elhadji Niang, CGT federal secretary for mass distribution: "For the people who work there, he is unofficially the person who runs the group." His income comes from services that he invoices to the association of E.Leclerc distribution centers for its various communication interventions, particularly media. A small business that is not experiencing the crisis: its company declared a net profit of more than 2.46 million euros in 2025.
“An excellent communicator”
“He certainly doesn't know the reality of daily life at the head of a store,” concedes Thierry Cotillard, president of the Groupement Mousquetaires (Intermarché, Netto, etc.). “But as he is constantly visiting to take the pulse [in E.Leclerc stores], he knows the ins and outs.” Although competitors, the two historic players in mass distribution share “a sincere relationship”. “We can call each other, talk: he plays collective,” argues Thierry Cotillard, who also recognizes his friend’s talents as an orator. “He’s a bit of a mentor to us all in communications,” he emphasizes.
“He’s a free electron in the sector and he plays with it.”
Thierry Cotillard, president of the Mousquetaires Group
at franceinfo
“He is an excellent communicator, I have rarely seen him as good as him in the media,” also underlines Patrick Leclerc, various right-wing mayor of Landerneau who shares, with his cousin, an emblematic surname and a taste for politics. Sharp communication that differs from the style of the brand's founder, Edouard Leclerc, who sprinkled his interviews with biblical references. "He built himself up a lot in relation to this father who did not have the same personality and who could, at the time, sometimes be perceived as an 'enlightened'", estimates his cousin. But far be it from him to kill his father. Born Michel, Marie Leclerc, he even changed his first name to that of Michel-Edouard, thus following the right paternal line. “He tried to correct the flaws in Edouard’s communication while keeping his qualities, to become an almost perfect man,” believes Patrick Leclerc.
A “zebulon”, a “little weather vane”
Other actors in economic life find faults with less difficulty. He is "a zebulon", he has a side that is "a bit of a weather vane that we cannot completely take seriously when it comes to business", vilifies the close guard of a big French boss. “He sometimes makes announcements without consulting his network, this can lead him to say things that cause him to lose credibility,” points out another actor in the sector cited earlier. By dint of monopolizing the television sets, the communicator, still in jeans and sneakers, could have tripped over the carpet. In the midst of a fuel crisis following the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, the nickname "MEL" loudly announced, in mid-March, an imminent drop of "around 30 cents" per liter of fuel at the pump. Discount that will never happen. Four years earlier, then on the set of BFM Business, the communicator had already stumbled on the same step.
“He does a lot of media and in a live broadcast, we are not immune to a slip-up. It has never been dramatic,” tempers Alexandre Tuaillon, who advised him for twelve years. These road trips did not prevent the business leader from having the attention of "more than twenty Ministers of the Economy" encountered since the start of his career, Michel-Edouard Leclerc proudly notes. A sign of its influence: the LME law (economy modernization law), promulgated in 2008 under Nicolas Sarkozy, is regularly renamed the "MEL law" by players in the sector, as the business leader weighed in with all his weight in the discussions of the time. “He is regularly consulted by politicians,” confirms Alexandre Tuaillon, who remains very close to his former boss, while refraining from naming his disciples. Not always as affable as in the media, the businessman nevertheless has his preferences. "I already heard him say to a minister: 'You weren't born before I was already there and I will still be there when you are gone'", confides an actor in the sector cited above.
From his office in Ivry-sur-Seine (Val-de-Marne), Michel-Edouard Leclerc lends himself to the game of meetings in high places without reluctance. “I think we owe them that, I am someone who criticizes the current drift of partisan politics, but I have a lot of respect for personalities,” argues the deferential boss, who acknowledges working “to fuel the political debate, in front of or behind the counter.” Because he assumes speaking to everyone, the one who describes himself as "social-liberal" also appears, in 2023, with Sébastien Chenu, vice-president of the National Rally of the National Assembly, a party traditionally hostile to mass distribution.
A long-term work of influence for this sportsman with impeccable hygiene, which above all allowed him to "take a very political course in mass distribution", according to his former advisor. So, when for the first time in its history, France has a Minister of Purchasing Power in 2025, a theme that he has ardently championed for years in the media, the success of esteem falls to him. The position is assigned to Serge Papin, former general director of Système U. Since this ministerial appointment, the two men have been at each other's throats through the media. “I would not speak of animosity but rather of bickering, they have known and practiced each other for a long time,” euphemizes the minister's office.
“Political advisers came to see me”
Would MEL be envious of the promotion of the one who was his competitor? “I find it good that among the ministers, there are people from civil society, but I have the impression that, whatever the quality of the people, the power of each minister is quite limited,” he says. The position has already been offered to him “several times”, he assures, notably during the time of Pierre Bérégovoy. But the real fake boss of E.Leclerc represents more than 155,000 employees and “must therefore be unifying”, recalls Alexandre Tuaillon. A constraint that is difficult to reconcile with a ministry or any political commitment. “If he took partisan positions, then there should be a clarification of his role within the group,” adds his former adviser.
“It is not my person who is being solicited, it is my action through my brand.”
Michel-Edouard Leclerc
at franceinfo
A false subject for MEL. “I could have cut chains and cut ties, nothing is impossible.” But now the reasons to do so are running out, now that the businessman is definitely not a presidential candidate. “Political advisors have come to see me, there are even a lot of them at the moment,” he smiles. “They only see the communicating MEL, but if I accumulate these popularity points, it is because E.Leclerc is the brand, in its field, preferred by the French (...) Our popularity should not serve as a springboard for So-and-so,” says the boss.
