Raphaël Glucksmann secured the social-democratic nomination for the 2027 French presidential election on Sunday, October 11, 2026, capturing 66.13 percent of the vote in the first round of the left-wing primary, comfortably surpassing the 50 percent threshold needed to win outright.
The ballot, organized under the banner Choisir 2027, aimed to select a single candidate from the social-democratic pole for the upcoming presidential race. Organizers extended voting by 22 hours—shifting the original Saturday evening deadline to Sunday at 6:00 PM local time—following a cyberattack that hit the voting platform on Friday morning. The attack generated an artificial surge of connections and slowed down the digital ballot boxes.
How the Vote Unfolded and the Final Tally
Voting opened on Friday, October 9, at 8:00 AM local time on the platform Choisir2027.fr. Participants included members of three organizing parties—the Socialist Party (PS), Place Publique, and the Republican and Socialist Left (GRS)—alongside citizens who registered on the platform for a fee of 15 euros, reduced to 10 euros for a social tariff. Despite the initial technical disruptions from the cyberattack, turnout surged, culminating in an 88.88 percent participation rate representing 120,787 voters out of 134,456 eligible electors by 5:00 PM on Sunday, October 11.
Patrick Menucci, president of the primary’s organizing committee, reported that 140,282 people initially registered for the consultation, surpassing the 90,000 to 100,000 participants organizers originally anticipated. Following strict verification checks to remove individuals not found on electoral rolls or registered with multiple parties, the final pool of eligible voters stood at 134,456, according to the Socialist Party. Of those who cast ballots, 120,307 were counted as valid expressed votes.
Candidate Results and Standings
Raphaël Glucksmann captured 79,613 votes, representing 66.17 percent of the ballots cast by the 120,787 total voters. The Socialist Party’s first secretary, Olivier Faure, finished far behind in second place with 17,398 votes, or 14.46 percent, delivering a heavy rebuke to his strategy of uniting the left. Former minister Ségolène Royal placed third with 9,165 votes, equating to 7.62 percent. Emmanuel Maurel followed in fourth place with 7,119 votes (5.92 percent), while Jérôme Guedj placed fifth with 7,012 votes (5.83 percent). Both Royal, Maurel, and Guedj finished beneath the 10 percent mark.
Reactions from the trailing candidates varied immediately following the results. Jérôme Guedj offered his support to the nominee, declaring that the primary was behind them and urging the party to move quickly into campaign mode. Emmanuel Maurel similarly remarked that the movement was partis sur de bons rails
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Reactions and Strategy for 2027
Declaring that la bataille de France commence
, the MEP—who advocates for a break with LFI—emphasized his ambition to break with macronism, challenge the hegemony of Jean-Luc Mélenchon over the French left, and defeat the far right.
Writing on the social platform X, the newly designated candidate emphasized the broader meaning of his win: Ce résultat dit quelque chose de puissant : une gauche fidèle à ses valeurs peut rassembler, gouverner et gagner. Elle peut parler de justice, d’écologie et de République sans renoncer à rien. Nous ne sommes pas là pour gagner une querelle à gauche. Nous sommes là pour gagner l’élection présidentielle.
Olivier Faure acknowledged the outcome by stating, Nous avons désormais un candidat
(We now have a candidate), while calling on party members to mobilize and forge a spirit of victory ahead of the 2027 contest.
