French centre-left candidate launches presidential bid amid divided left

French ⁠centre-left politician Raphaël Glucksmann ​launched a bid for the presidency on Sunday, seeking to challenge firebrand hard-left leader ​Jean-Luc Mélenchon 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 Mélenchon in opinion polls and a key question is whether he — or other potential centre-left candidates — could unite moderate left-wing forces. Read moreRaphaël Glucksmann, the man who revived France’s centre-left "The left can win the presidential election if it stands firm ‌on its principles," Glucksmann said. "We must stop being afraid of Mélenchon." His candi...