PARIS — Centrist MEP Raphaël Glucksmann will announce his candidacy in France's presidential election next year in the coming days, most likely through a prime-time interview on Sunday, according to three people close to him.
The three, who were granted anonymity to speak candidly about Glucksmann's plans, said he plans to participate in a closed primary organised by the Socialist Party that currently includes Ségolène Royal, the Socialist presidential candidate in 2007 who lost to Nicolas Sarkozy, and deputy Philippe Brun. Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure has also said he is considering running.
While a victory would guarantee Glucksmann the backing of the Socialists, France's main centre-left force, the party has been struggling to reach voters and is plagued by internal conflicts. Several prominent Socialists, including former president François Hollande and former prime minister Bernard Cazeneuve, have publicly hinted at plans not to participate in their party's primary and to launch independent presidential candidacies.
However, polls show that Glucksmann, leader of his own small political party, Place Publique, is the best-positioned presidential candidate in the centre-left after the Socialists and their allies came in a strong third place in the 2024 European elections. Still, he and the rest of the field remain significantly behind far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, according to most polls.
To advance to the second round, Glucksmann will have to eliminate centrist and centre-right rivals such as Édouard Philippe and firebrand anticapitalist Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Mélenchon, who announced his plans to run in May, currently leads Glucksmann by a narrow margin in the polls, but both are within reach of making the second round. Both are fierce rivals whose divisions echo those plaguing left-wing parties across the Western world, including the United States Democratic Party.
Glucksmann hopes his centrist political brand can win over former Socialist voters who backed president Emmanuel Macron. Mélenchon's hardline rhetoric focuses more on voters with low propensity to vote, including younger voters and those from working-class and multicultural communities in major French cities. Glucksmann and Mélenchon disagree on issues ranging from France's participation in NATO — which Mélenchon opposes and Glucksmann supports — to pension reform. Mélenchon has pledged to lower the minimum retirement age to 60 if elected president, while Glucksmann believes some workers should be required to work longer and that France should move towards a system where the retirement age would be based on life expectancy and individual working conditions.