French politician Glucksmann launches presidential bid

French centre-left politician Raphael Glucksmann launched a bid for the presidency on Sunday, seeking to challenge firebrand hard-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon for dominance of France’s fractured left ahead of a campaign increasingly shaped by the far right.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen consistently tops first-round voting intentions, and potential challengers from the political centre and left face an uphill battle to defeat her in a runoff, according to opinion polls.
Glucksmann, a pro-European EU lawmaker who led the mainstream left alliance in the 2024 European Parliament election to 14% of the vote, trails Melenchon in opinion polls and a key question is whether he — or other potential centre-left candidates — could unite moderate left-wing forces.