French hard-left politician Mélenchon to stand in 2027 presidential election

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leading figure in the hard-left France Unbowed (La France Insoumise) political party, will stand in next year's presidential election, he said on Sunday.

"Yes, I am a candidate," Jean-Luc Mélenchon told TF1 TV.

Mélenchon, 74, has been a fixture of the French left for decades, holding ministerial posts in past governments when he was a Socialist Party member. He ran for president in 2012, 2017 and 2022, coming third that year behind far-right leader Marine Le Pen and President Emmanuel Macron.

"We have less than a year to go until the second round of the election. With us, it is all sorted out - there is a team, a manifesto, and a single candidate," added Melenchon.

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Under the French constitution, Macron cannot seek a third mandate as president.

Edouard Philippe, Macron's first prime minister in 2017, is also set to stand in 2027, representing a centre-right camp.

The far-right National Rally (RN) party, led by Le Pen and her protégé Jordan Bardella, is polling strongly at present although the RN failed to win control of any major city during French municipal elections in March.

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Le Pen, who ran in the last three elections, is barred from standing because of a conviction for misuse of EU funds, which she is trying to overturn on appeal; should she fail, Bardella is widely expected to stand in her stead.

 (Reuters)