Raphaël Glucksmann wins French left-wing primary with 66% of vote

Raphaël Glucksmann, an EU lawmaker, won France's centre-left's presidential primary on Sunday, positioning himself as the left's main alternative to hard-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

Glucksmann, 46, who leads the Place Publique ‌movement, won the primary in a first round of ⁠voting, securing an outright majority with 66% of the vote.

"I am the candidate who stands for ‌a break with Macronism, the candidate who stands for a break ⁠with Jean-Luc Melenchon's hegemony over the French left, the candidate who can defeat our long-standing enemy – the far right," he told party activists after the vote.

Glucksmann now faces the task of uniting ‌a fractured left in a presidential campaign increasingly shaped by the far right.

More than 120,000 people turned out for the vote, far fewer than in the ‌past – 2.8 million took part in the Socialists' 2011 primary, won by the eventual president, François Hollande. Glucksmann, who led the mainstream left to secure 14% of French seats in the 2024 European Parliament election, opposes any alliance with Mélenchon. Opinion polls show he could make it into a May 2 run-off vote in the presidential election, but would lose to frontrunner Marine Le Pen from the far right.

Glucksmann's victory in the primary vote is a blow for Socialist Party head Olivier Faure, who has been open to alliances with Melenchon's France Unbowed party and won only 14.5% of the vote.

"We shall unite to take up the fight and prevent the Trumpists, the coup plotters, the xenophobes and ⁠the demagogues from seizing control of the Republic," Glucksman said.

While critical of some of President ⁠Emmanuel Macron's pro-business policies, Glucksmann has advocated a similar pro-European, pro-Ukraine line, positioning himself as a staunch defender of liberal democracy.

(FRANCE 24 with Reuters)