Presidential 2027: with Riner, the right has found a candidate who “has allure”, launches Jean-Luc Mélenchon

Between admiration and mockery. With Teddy Riner, a newcomer in the race for the Élysée, the right has “finally” found a candidate who “resembles something”, quipped the leader of La France insoumise Jean-Luc Mélenchon on Wednesday.

“The guy has good looks, he’s a champion,” he said during a meeting in La Souterraine, in Creuse. “Well, he is from the right and I am from the left,” but the five-time Olympic judo champion has “already made a speech that I found interesting,” continued the rebellious candidate.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon assured that he “prefers to beat a right wing that has mouths than a kind of confused cohort of guys who eat each other, like we have in front of us at the moment.” By attacking the candidates Bruno Retailleau, Édouard Philippe and Gabriel Attal, he advised right-wing activists to “think carefully”. “Because finally, they have a candidate who looks like something and I wish them a lot of fun,” concluded Jean-Luc Mélenchon, to the laughter of the public.

Riner wants to be neither right nor left

Teddy Riner announced his surprise candidacy for the presidential election on Monday. The judoka, who claims to be neither right nor left, said he was in favor of increasing the net salary by reducing charges or reforming the pension system. Committed to the fight against racism, he spoke in September of his “anxiety” about “the rise of the extreme right”.