France’s Jean-Luc Mélenchon announces 2027 presidential bid

Jean-Luc Mélenchon , France’s radical left leader, has confirmed he will run again for president next spring, saying it was urgent for the country to stand up against war being waged by the US and Israel in the Middle East. The 74-year-old veteran leader of La France Insoumise (LFI), announced in an interview with the French broadcaster TF1 that he would run for the presidency for the fourth time in 2027. “We are threatened by a widespread war, we are threatened by a spectacular change in the climate, and now we have an economic and social crisis approaching,” he said. He called for a common front with Spain against war in the Middle East. A one-time Trotskyist and former teacher, Mélenchon spent 30 years in the traditional left party of government, the Socialists, where he served as a minister and was once the youngest ever Socialist senator. He quit in 2008, arguing the party wasn’t properly leftwing . He ran for president on a radical left ticket in 2012, 2017 and 2022 – coming third that year behind the far-right leader Marine Le Pen and the president Emmanuel Macron . After the last presidential election, Mélenchon had vowed to stand aside to let a younger generation take the lead but now said he would run again next year because he had the most experience. There are a large number of would-be candidates on the rest of the broader French left , from Greens to Social Democrats, which could split the vote. …