Olivier Faure announced Sunday evening, during TF1's 8 pm news broadcast, his official candidacy for the left's socialist and democratic primary, joining an already crowded field of contenders looking to succeed Emmanuel Macron. First secretary of the Socialist Party since 2018, he will seek the nomination in the primary vote set for October.
In that primary, Faure will face Raphael Glucksmann, a member of the European Parliament and leading figure of the Place Publique movement, who also took part in the first economic debate hosted by employer federation MEDEF just days earlier. Current polling puts Faure at between 3.5 and 5 percent of voting intentions, well behind the presidential race's leading contenders.
The move comes as the French left remains deeply split over its strategy heading into the presidential election. A separate, broader primary is also expected to bring together figures such as Greens leader Marine Tondelier, along with Lucie Castets, Francois Ruffin, and Clementine Autain, with no clear agreement yet reached on a single candidate for the left as a whole.
At his party's summer conference, Faure had urged the left to build a barrier against what he described as an alliance between the far right and big money, a formula aimed at both the National Rally and parts of the business world. His official candidacy now puts that call into practice, in a political landscape where the economy, public debt, and pensions already dominate the early exchanges of the campaign.