LIVE - 2027 Presidential Election: after being floured, Glucksmann asks Mélenchon to “disavow” the violence of “his supporters”

The candidate of the social democratic left Raphaël Glucksmann asked Jean-Luc Mélenchon on Monday to “disavow his supporters (who) attack”, after having been the victim of “flouring” on Sunday evening, a few hours after his victory in the primary.

“At every event we organize, every demonstration we go to, there are rebellious activists who harass, who insult or who tarnish or who threaten,” he lamented on France Inter.

In Paris on Sunday evening, it is currently difficult to say whether it was a rebellious activist who poured a bag of flour on his head, but this phenomenon "is recurring", he explained, claiming to have been the victim of rebellious activists during a recent trip to Nancy for example.

A little earlier in the evening, a young woman who admitted to being a “Mélenchoniste” had already thrown rice at Raphaël Glucksmann in the street. He was also booed by LFI supporters.

The leader of La France insoumise Jean-Luc Mélenchon “must decide if the next seven months will be this type of event all the time. And if he decides that it is not that, he must formally disavow that his supporters are attacking,” added Mr. Glucksmann. The MEP said that “this kind of behavior did not impress him”, and that he was “not afraid”.

The day after his very large victory in the Social Democratic primary (more than 66% of the votes), Raphaël Glucksmann assures: “We will need everyone”. The leader of Place publique wants his former rival, Olivier Faure, “to be part of this campaign”. With 14% of the votes, the mandate of the first secretary of the Socialist Party (PS) could be called into question. “I am not a PS executive, I am going to speak to the French, to the citizens. The PS is not Renaissance or LFI. It’s a democratic party,” retorted the official candidate. Before recognizing: “Olivier Faure is no longer in the majority within his own party”.

Raphaël Glucksmann also assured that the former president, François Hollande, and also a probable candidate, “congratulated him”. “I want him to be on our team. I want Bernard Cazeneuve and the Environmentalists to participate. I will speak with François Hollande,” he promised again.

“Finally, the battle begins,” declared the winner of the social-democratic primary, Raphaël Glucksmann, on France Inter. “We are chasing the spirit of defeat from our souls and our hearts,” says the man who won the competition with more than 66% of the votes.

“I can no longer stand this left which no longer believes in victory. We awakened a kind of pride,” further detailed the founder of Place publique. “I feel an immense responsibility. My entire political life has prepared me for this historic moment,” said the MEP.

The boss of Reconquête and former candidate for the 2022 presidential election, Éric Zemmour, should “soon” formalize his return to the Élysée race. Asked about the anti-Semitic writings attributed to Jordan Bardella, the polemicist assured that he “did not really” believe in the sincerity of the thirty-year-old.

“What Jordan Bardella says on his cell phone interests me little,” he further argued about the private conversations of 2013. “It’s petty politics,” assured the man, preferring “first to see the important problems of France.” The one who received 7% of the votes in the last presidential election, mocked: “Jordan Bardella is in the process of being marginalized within the RN”.

Mayor of Rouen and first deputy secretary of the PS, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol sees “real satisfaction” in the victory and score of Raphaël Glucksmann on Sunday in the first round of the left-wing primary. “Turnout is very high, much higher than any commentators predicted. Few people bet on such a high score from Raphaël Glucksmann,” he congratulates himself at the Public Senate microphone.

“Many people came to vote to say: we want this return of a clear, sincere, pro-European left, which is not afraid to assert itself,” continues the man who is also responsible for Raphaël Glucksmann’s presidential program. And to launch a call to rally: “Join us: it is now that the real battle against the extreme right, to reorient the country, for France and the French, begins. We need everyone.”

Guest of the TF1 morning show, Philippe Brun, PS deputy for Eure, believes that by voting for Raphaël Glucksmann in the first round of the primary for the social-democratic camp, socialist sympathizers “have said very clearly that they wanted to put an end to Olivier Faure's policy of zigzag and scheming for 8 years now. […] We’ve been zigzagging for 8 years. We don't have a program. We have no incarnation. We subcontract the ideas to La France insoumise. In the end, by dint of subcontracting, the supporters who voted yesterday said to themselves that they were also going to subcontract the candidacy.

“I had no doubt, I knew that he would win in the first round since we were unable to have a real substantive debate, and the question was: for or against LFI. […] This score is also that of the clarification of our political line,” adds Philippe Brun, who was excluded from the primary following accusations of physical violence, harassment and family employment made by one of his former collaborators. He was also provisionally suspended from the PS. A “completely scandalous” suspension, the result of a “scheme” by Olivier Faure, according to him.

Philippe Brun also sees in the results of the primary a “plebiscite against Olivier Faure”, from which he calls for “drawing the consequences”, without explicitly uttering the word resignation. “You can lose a socialist primary and remain first secretary of the party, but getting 14% is a heavy disavowal. […] People were extremely mobilized to say no to the line he carried.[…] In his place, I would draw the necessary consequences”

Was it desire or duty that, deep down, motivated this last fight? Maybe a little of both, say Olivier Faure’s friends. At 58, the boss of the Socialists has never been, he says, “obsessed” with the presidential election, any more than he was “born” with the ardent conviction of one day occupying the Élysée Palace. But the first secretary, at the helm of a tormented party for almost eight years, also wanted to have his say in the primary of the great socialist family. “He did not want his years at the head of the party to be completely overlooked,” explains one of his close friends.

To put an end, too, to this image of a skillful tactician, capable of thwarting bad moves, to show the more fleshed-out image of a candidate for the highest offices. A bet ultimately lost for the fifty-year-old, who had to lose on Sunday evening in the first round, gathering only 14.46% of the votes, against Raphaël Glucksmann (66.17%), Ségolène Royal (7.62%), Emmanuel Maurel (5.92%) and Jérôme Guedj (5.83%).

Crowned with his large victory on Sunday evening in the primary of the social democratic left, Raphaël Glucksmann must now appease and bring together a divided political family and continue the dynamic that has just started. The MEP was designated candidate of the social democratic left with more than 66% of the votes, a large victory in the first round which surprised even his camp: it is a “surprise” and “good news for the future” greeted the leader of the PS deputies, Boris Vallaud.

The leader of Place publique affirmed in the evening that he was “invested with an immense responsibility”, committing to “unite”. The challenge now is to make room in the campaign “for all sensitivities and for all candidates”, and by integrating proposals from candidates into the program, Jérôme Auslender, one of the managers of Place publique, told AFP. “We are going to build a large team around our candidate” and then “expand to the rest of the democratic left”, specifies the same.

From now on it is a question of “entering into a campaign dynamic by addressing the French”, to continue the movement launched with the primary, but on a clearly social-democratic identity, according to Jérôme Auslender. Raphaël Glucksmann launched “an appeal to all environmentalist, humanist” and “republican” citizens to join him.

If the boss of the Ecologists Marine Tondelier deplored the victory of “the one who chooses to withdraw”, the Glucksmann camp pretends not to worry about it. Environmentalist senator Yannick Jadot, who has already joined them, will soon present the 100 days of the “ecological revolution” promised by Raphaël Glucksmann. “We are going to affirm this ecological identity that we share,” defends Jérôme Auslender, convinced of being able to convince the Greens.