PARIS: With local elections done and dusted, France is pivoting towards electing a president to replace Emmanuel Macron next year, with the far right scenting its best chance yet to seize power.
As voters prepare to choose a successor to the centrist president bowing out after his maximum two terms, here is the state of play.
The divided left
It is unclear how many presidential candidates the left will field next year, after the local elections that ended on Sunday. The municipal vote has highlighted a widening rift between the mainstream left and the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI), following the fatal beating of a far-right activist last month blamed on fringe leftists.
LFI leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, 74, is expected to launch another presidential bid. A primary to elect another leftist candidate was supposed to be held on October 11, but is struggling to gain traction. Former Socialist president Francois Hollande and Raphael Glucksmann, a centre-left member of the European Parliament, have both expressed opposition to it.
Glucksmann, 46, appears to be a frontrunner in opinion polls — though, a year from the election, such projections remain preliminary.
Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2026
