By Michel Rose
PARIS, Aug 23 (Reuters) - French centre-left politician Raphael Glucksmann launched a bid for the presidency on Sunday, seeking to challenge firebrand hard-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon for dominance of France's fractured left ahead of a campaign increasingly shaped by the far right.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen consistently tops first-round voting intentions, and potential challengers from the political centre and left face an uphill battle to defeat her in a runoff, according to opinion polls.
"Yes, I am a candidate for the presidential election," Glucksmann told French TV channel TF1. "Are we going to hand our country over to the far right? Faced with such a choice, I could not stand aside."
Glucksmann, a pro-European EU lawmaker who led the mainstream left alliance in the 2024 European Parliament election to 14% of the vote, trails Melenchon in opinion polls and a key question is whether he — or other potential centre-left candidates — could unite moderate left-wing forces.
"The left can win the presidential election if it stands firm on its principles," Glucksmann said. "We must stop being afraid of Melenchon."
His candidacy comes as France's political class returns from the summer break and gears up for what is expected to be a highly polarised presidential contest ahead of the vote in April and May 2027.
While being critical of some of President Emmanuel Macron's pro-business policies, Glucksmann has advocated a similar pro-European, pro-Ukraine line, positioning himself as a staunch defender of liberal democracy.
Yet it is not only his politics that have thrust him into the spotlight.
His relationship with Lea Salame, the star presenter of France 2 TV's flagship evening news programme, has become a recurring subject of media attention, with newspapers dubbing them one of France's top "power couples".
Over the summer, pictures of the couple on a beach in Corsica appeared in Paris Match, a celebrity magazine that has been a launchpad for presidential hopefuls over the past decades.
French media report Salame will withdraw from anchoring duties on the public broadcaster during the presidential campaign to avoid any perception of a conflict of interest.
(Reporting by Michel Rose and Ingrid Melander; Editing by Chris Reese)
