Presidential 2027. Raphaël Glucksmann will officially enter the race for the Élysée this Sunday

After giving himself three months to try to convince the social democracy camp, Raphaël Glucksmann should without much surprise formalize his candidacy for the presidential election this Sunday, through a primary with the Socialist Party. The leader of Place Publique must announce it at 8 p.m. on TFI. With the immediate consequence of the withdrawal from the competing channel France 2 of his partner Léa Salamé, who presented the news and was initially due to resume on Monday. Jean-Baptiste Marteau, joker at the helm this summer, should replace her.

It was already on TF1 that on May 26, the 46-year-old MEP announced that he was giving himself three months “to travel the country”, “to propose (a) new patriotic contract”, and “to reunite (his) political family” for the presidential election. Building on his 13.8% in the last European elections, where he led a PS-Place Publique list which placed him at the head of the left, Raphaël Glucksmann gradually felt himself growing wings: “I am accountable for the hope that I raised”, he said at the end of May, recalling that he had achieved “the only double-digit score in the last ten years for social democracy in a national election”.

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But while the candidate of La France insoumise Jean-Luc Mélenchon, his main rival on the left, is credited with 15% of voting intentions, the leader of Place publique is only estimated at 10-11%, while remaining the best placed in the social democratic space. Not having a sufficient structure to support his future candidacy, he needs the Socialist Party apparatus to campaign. Which involves officially becoming their candidate.

For this, the MEP, known in particular for his firmness towards Vladimir Putin’s Russia, should in principle go through a primary with the socialists. The terms of this nomination process must be finalized in the coming days and validated by the authorities of both parties next Tuesday. Even if he has never been a supporter of this method of tie-breaking, Raphaël Glucksmann can hardly navigate a process which seems more and more tailor-made for him.

Especially since the socialist activists, consulted at the beginning of July, rejected the open primary desired by the boss of the PS Olivier Faure, preferring a “closed primary”, reserved for members of the PS, Place publique or a “social democratic pole”, giving a restricted electoral body more favorable to Raphaël Glucksmann.

Expected at the turn

Facing him in the primary, several socialists are in the running, including the deputy Philippe Brun and the former presidential candidate Ségolène Royal. In La Tribune SundayMP Jérôme Guedj also confirms his candidacy, promising to defend “the two pillars of our republican identity: Social Security and secularism”. But Raphaël Glucksmann’s main opponent should be Olivier Faure, who has not yet applied for candidacy, but intends to defend his line of uniting the left and refusing irreconcilable lefts.

The MEP can already count on the support of several socialists, who have made him their candidate, such as the president of the Occitanie region Carole Delga, senator Laurence Rossignol, or the mayor of Montpellier Michaël Delafosse. Other socialists should undoubtedly quickly join him, notably among Olivier Faure’s opponents. In the environmentalist camp, senator Yannick Jadot is also in favor of his candidacy.

Raphaël Glucksmann, who defends a pro-European and anti-LFI line, and calls for leading “the battle of French patriotism”, brought together nearly 4,000 people at a first meeting in Aubervilliers in June, inviting socialists and environmentalists to join him. But the one who has included former Macronists in his team is suspected by some on the left of a turn towards the center and a social-liberal vision, which he vigorously denies.

The son of the philosopher André Glucksmann also suffers from an image of disconnection and Parisianism that he strives to erase. He must also make us forget his poor performance at the end of 2025 against a panel of French people and Eric Zemmour, who had raised doubts even in his camp. Raphaël Glucksmann is also expected at the turning point by ex-president François Hollande, who does not want to participate in the primary, but is in ambush if he slips in the polls.