Has the French Left Found a New Challenger to Marine Le Pen?

Next April’s French presidential election is shaping up to be a showdown between the far-right and far-left but a clear victory in the first round of the center-left’s presidential primary could shake up the race.The winning candidate, Raphaël Glucksmann, is positioning himself as a better option than hard-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon to defeat National Rally leader Marine Le Pen.Mr. Glucksmann took more than 66 percent of the vote in Sunday’s Place Publique party primary to avoid a run-off with Socialist leader Olivier Faure. Mr. Glucksmann says he will unite the left to defeat the right in the general election. He has rejected working with Mr. Mélenchon’s far-left La France Insoumise or France Unbowed party.Mr. Gucksmann will have to use his dominating primary performance to try to siphon support from Mr. Mélenchon, who has higher polling numbers. Both, however, have less support than Ms. Le Pen. The center-right candidate, former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe, is also currently polling higher, but has reportedly failed to unite the center behind him and could be squeezed out of a run-off. The presidential election will select a replacement for the highly unpopular Emmanuel Macron, who is ineligible to seek reelection due to term limits.“I am the candidate who stands for a break with Macronism, the candidate who stands for a break with Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s hegemony over the French left, the candidate who can defeat our long-standing enemy – the far right,” Mr. Glucksman said.Mr. Glucksman, a member of the European Parliament and is a co-president of the Place Pulique party. He is hoping to bring the left together or behind him to defeat Ms. Le Pen but current polling shows the race will go to a May run-off between Ms. Le Pen and Mr. Mélenchon with Ms. Le Pen easily winning the run-off.Mr. Glucksman has positioned himself as a pro-European Union social democrat. He has also championed adding Ukraine to the bloc. He has centered attacks on National Rally. “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,” Mr. Glucksman said.Mr. Mélenchon is promoting a far-left, anti-capitalist agenda and has celebrated the violent school protests that have swept the country. Critics say Mr. Mélenchon has stoked the protests for political gains. At a rally on Sunday, Mr. Mélenchon, called for lowering the voting age to 16.Ms. Le Pen has pushed for control over the far-right but has scaled back radical proposals from her previous runs for president. She has focused her election message on spending cuts to reduce the French deficit. Last week, Ms. Le Pen called on the European Central Bank to intervene to bring down interest rates that are making the national debt more costly. France’s borrowing costs are higher than some other European countries due to its growing deficit.Ms. Le Pen has also called for tax cuts to revive the economy, immigration controls, and “de-Islamization” of French society.

Has the French Left Found a New Challenger to Marine Le Pen?

Has the French Left Found a New Challenger to Marine Le Pen?

More from the New York Sun

New Federal Rule Shrinks Airline Compensation Requirements Starting Next Week

Grassley Aims To Stay in Office Until Age 101 — and Could Haunt Jack Smith to His Final Days

For the Best iPhone Photos, Upgrade the App, Not the Phone

A Nobel Prize for the Flat Tax

Ilhan Omar’s Washington, D.C.-Area Home Searched Before Dawn by Federal Agents

The Long Reach of Classic Short Fiction

Demands Rise for Marines To Leave Okinawa After Murder, Rape of Local Woman

Russia and Ukraine Bomb Their Way Through Trump’s ‘Ceasefire’

More from the New York Sun

New Federal Rule Shrinks Airline Compensation Requirements Starting Next Week

Grassley Aims To Stay in Office Until Age 101 — and Could Haunt Jack Smith to His Final Days

For the Best iPhone Photos, Upgrade the App, Not the Phone

A Nobel Prize for the Flat Tax

Ilhan Omar’s Washington, D.C.-Area Home Searched Before Dawn by Federal Agents

The Long Reach of Classic Short Fiction

Demands Rise for Marines To Leave Okinawa After Murder, Rape of Local Woman

Russia and Ukraine Bomb Their Way Through Trump’s ‘Ceasefire’