Melenchon ran for president in 2012, 2017 and 2022, coming third that year behind far-right leader Marine Le Pen and President Macron
1-MIN READ1-MIN ListenReutersPublished: 3:38am, 4 May 2026Jean-Luc Melenchon, the leading figure in the hard-left France Unbowed (La France Insoumise) political party, will stand in next year’s presidential election, he said on Sunday.
“Yes, I am a candidate,” Melenchon told TF1 TV.
Melenchon, 74, has been a fixture of the French left for decades, holding ministerial posts in past governments when he was a Socialist Party member.
He ran for president in 2012, 2017 and 2022, coming third that year behind far-right leader Marine Le Pen and President Emmanuel Macron.
“We have less than a year to go until the second round of the election. With us, it is all sorted out – there is a team, a manifesto, and a single candidate,” added Melenchon.
Under the French constitution, Macron cannot seek a third mandate as president.
