French presidential candidateRaphaël Glucksmann declared Monday that the "battle begins" as he launched a bid to unite a fragmented left ahead of next year's election, hours after he was flour-bombed by a protester. The 46-year-old EU lawmaker waselected the centre-left candidateon Sunday for the upcoming April-May presidential election, securing a commanding first-round victory that surprised even many within his own camp. The leader of the small centre-left Place Publique party now faces the challenge of uniting the divided mainstream left.
The French left has been shut out of the presidential second round ever since François Hollande won in 2012. "At last, the battle begins," Glucksmann told broadcaster Radio France on Monday. "Finally, we're banishing the spirit of defeat from our hearts.
I've had enough of this left that doesn't believe in victory." Glucksmann said his "entire life has prepared me for this historic moment". Who is Raphaël Glucksmann, winner of the French left presidential primary? To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement.
One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site. Cover image: French President Macron meets French political leaders in September 2026 - Sarah Meyssonnier He is currently polling in the low teens in voter surveys, well behind the frontrunner, far-right candidate Marine Le Pen.
He also trails centre-right contender Edouard Philippe, who served as prime minister under President Emmanuel Macron, and hard-left veteran Jean-Luc Mélenchon, whose France Unbowed (LFI) party boycotted the primary. Glucksmann has ruled out any alliance with LFI. Le Pen has benefitted from one of the most fractured political landscapes in modern French history, with a multitude of candidates vying for support and traditional political forces weaker than ever.
On Sunday night, Glucksmann was pelted with flour as he left a Paris bar where he had been celebrating his victory. The lawmaker said he was "ready to face the violence and brutality of this campaign" and appeared to blame Mélenchon's party for the flour-bombing episode. "At every event we organise, at every demonstration we attend, there are LFI activists who harass, insult, throw flour at, or threaten people," he said.
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