France: Glucksmann wins Social Democratic primary with 66 per cent
The MEP clearly beat Socialist leader Olivier Faure in the first round. Around 120,000 people voted online despite a cyberattack.
Archive image · Photo: Mathieu Delmestre / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (cropped and resized)
Raphaël Glucksmann will run as the candidate of France's Social Democrats in the 2027 presidential election. The MEP and leader of the Place publique party won the primary outright in the first round on Sunday with around 66 per cent of the vote, Euronews reported, citing the organisers. Socialist Party (PS) leader Olivier Faure took about 14 per cent and former presidential candidate Ségolène Royal less than eight per cent. Jérôme Guedj and Emmanuel Maurel each won close to six per cent.
According to the organisers, more than 120,000 people took part, a turnout of around 86 per cent among registered voters. Voting was online only. After a cyberattack slowed the platform on Friday, the vote was extended until 6 pm on Sunday. Glucksmann wrote on X that a left faithful to its values can unite, govern and win. "We are here to win the presidential election," he said, according to Euronews.
His relationship with the PS remains unresolved: Glucksmann needs its machinery for the campaign, but the party is still led by Faure, the website The French Dispatch notes. Faure's camp had favoured alliances with Jean-Luc Mélenchon's La France insoumise. An Ifop poll of 30 September put Glucksmann fourth in the first round. He wrote that his victory gives him "no rights".