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Glucksmann wins France's centre-left primary, emerges as left's main challenger to far right
EU lawmaker Raphaël Glucksmann won the centre-left presidential primary in the first round with 66% of the vote, ruling out any alliance with Jean-Luc Mélenchon; polls put him in a possible May 2 runoff.
Why it matters
With France's presidential election set for May 2027, the centre-left primary has produced its standard-bearer: EU lawmaker and Place Publique leader Raphaël Glucksmann, 46, won the first round outright on Sunday with 66% of the vote, positioning himself as the left's main alternative to hard-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon — and ruling out any alliance with him.
Full report
"I am the candidate who stands for a break with Macronism, the candidate who stands for a break with Jean-Luc Mélenchon's hegemony over the French left, the candidate who can defeat our long-standing enemy – the far right," Glucksmann told party activists after the vote.
More than 120,000 people turned out for the vote, far fewer than the 2.8 million who took part in the Socialists' 2011 primary won by François Hollande. Socialist Party head Olivier Faure, open to alliances with Mélenchon's France Unbowed, won only 14.5%.
Glucksmann, who led the mainstream left to 14% of French seats in the 2024 European Parliament election, has criticized some of President Emmanuel Macron's pro-business policies while advocating a similar pro-European, pro-Ukraine line, positioning himself as a staunch defender of liberal democracy.
Opinion polls show he could make it into a May 2 runoff vote, but would lose to frontrunner Marine Le Pen. He now faces the task of uniting a fractured left.
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