French opposition party leader Melenchon announces 2027 presidential bid

The leader of French left-wing opposition party La France Insoumise, or France Unbowed, announced that he will run in France’s 2027 presidential election, confirming his fourth bid for the country’s highest office.

“I am a candidate,” Jean-Luc Melenchon said Sunday when asked whether he would enter the race, with its first round set for April 2027, broadcaster TF1 reported.

He said his decision was driven by what he described as a period of global instability and overlapping crises.

“We are facing threats of general war and dramatic climate change, and we also have an emerging economic and social crisis,” he said.

Melenchon argued that rising fuel prices are linked to geopolitical conflicts involving the US and Israel, adding that solutions would require political decisions.

“There is a political cause, and therefore the solution will also be political,” he said.

He also said that, if elected, he would take a different approach to US foreign policy, referring to what he described as unpredictable positions from US President Donald Trump.

Melenchon added that he would seek closer coordination with Spain on Middle East policy and called for ending the EU-Israel partnership agreement.

He also said Israel could not function without the EU and criticized both the US and Israel as acting as “paper tigers.”

Melenchon previously ran in France’s 2012, 2017, and 2022 presidential elections.

France’s current President Emmanuel Macron, from the center-right Renaissance party, has held the office since 2017. After serving two terms, he is constitutionally barred from seeking a third.