French presidential race: De Villepin to run, Faure joins primary

Although he is not yet officially a candidate in France’s 2027 presidential election, Dominique de Villepin is getting very close.

Speaking to BFM TV Sunday, the conservative politician — who formerly served as prime minister under Jacques Chirac and heads the La France Humaniste party — said he would confirm his candidacy “once the election campaign has begun”.

He added that he was ruling out taking part in a primary, arguing that “it is not the right way of doing things” but rather “the latest gimmick for the desperate”.

Meanwhile, Olivier Faure, the first secretary of the Socialist Party (PS) is due to announce on Sunday evening on TF1 that he will take part in the party’s primary election, after informing MPs from his group of his decision Saturday night. He informed MPs in his group of his decision in a message sent during the night from Saturday to Sunday.

But Dominique de Villepin reserved most of his criticism for Édouard Philippe, arguing that the latter is “playing into the hands” of Marine Le Pen by entering into a form of “one-upmanship” with his proposals to restrict immigration to Mayotte.

The latter, a presidential candidate and leader of the Horizons party, was hosted on Sunday in Tourcoing by Gérald Darmanin for the start-of-season rally of his political movement Populaires. In mid-August, the justice minister officially announced his support for his “friend of twenty years” in the presidential race.

Centrist Gabriel Attal, another former prime minister — who was appointed by French President Emmanuel Macron — and the Renaissance party’s presidential candidate, stated he had “never ruled out a primary”.

Attal’s comments come after more 200 elected French politicians signed a column in Le Figaro newspaper on Wednesday, calling for the centrist and right-wing bloc to hold a primary election, as part of a bid to identify a single candidate able to take on the far-left and far-right.

In an interview with France 2 and France Inter, Raphaël Glucksmann, the main rival of Olivier Faure in the social-democratic primary, once again took aim at the leader of France Unbowed (LFI), Jean-Luc Mélenchon, saying that he had “gone beyond all acceptable limits” and that “the democratic left” must “show that it is capable of breaking with those who sow chaos”.