Paris (France) (AFP) – He has not given up, despite Raphaël Glucksmann's victory in the primary of the social-democrat left: François Hollande is continuing his campaign, with a view to a potential announcement of his candidacy after the end-of-year holidays.

Published on: 04/11/2026 - 21:19

While the leader of Place publique has experienced a little momentum since he won the primary in the first round, François Hollande is preparing more actively than ever to play a role in the coming months.

But he, who promised a declaration in December, now plans to wait until January, because the landscape "is not yet clear" and the social movement is still very present, his entourage explains to AFP.

The opportunity also to take the time to scrutinize the polling evolution of Raphaël Glucksmann, whose dynamics at this stage are not confirmed in the voting intentions. Mr. Hollande is currently around 7 to 8%.

In the meantime, the former president is making more trips: Marseille, Corrèze, Brittany, Vienne, Le Mans, a breakfast with a dozen CAC40 bosses: "The diary is full. He is running non-stop, he is invited everywhere", relishes Wilfrid Pailhès, member of his campaign team.

Enough to push some socialists to regret the start of Raphaël Glucksmann, who is not very present on the ground. “I want to tell him: ‘look at how Hollande does it’. He networks, he meets business leaders and elected officials, he does the job,” laments one of them.

According to Mr. Pailhès, there is "not a single invitation where people see François Hollande as a man from the past. Everyone talks to him about the presidential election" and calls for "stability" and "a reassuring profile+".

“gathering capacity”

The deputy from Corrèze hopes to embody the one who can beat Marine Le Pen in the second round of the presidential election, while the Horizons candidate Edouard Philippe, for a long time in second place in the polls and seen as a potential winner against the far right, has lost ground in favor of the Insoumis Jean-Luc Mélenchon, for his part always given the loser in the second round.

As an aside at the end of August in Sens (Yonne) where they debated together, Emmanuel Macron's former Prime Minister had also agreed that François Hollande had "a broader capacity to unite" than him to win in the second round.

“Yes,” the former president replied, “but we must first get through the first round.”

And to do this embody “the profile of the gathering” in the eyes of public opinion, in a context where a majority of French people are disoriented by the national and international situation.

If he counts on his presidential stature and his experience, François Hollande does not intend to run against Raphaël Glucksmann.

"The subject is not Glucksmann. It is: + is anyone able to place himself in the second round? +", insists François Hollande's entourage.

“He is not going to declare himself a candidate,” specifies Mr. Pailhès, but is counting on favorable second round polls and calls from personalities. “It has the strengths to bring together more widely than the PS,” he believes.

"formidable"

The former president does not see himself as "a replacement candidate for Glucksmann", notes a local socialist elected official, "otherwise, he would not have launched his idea of ​​social VAT" which is "not a left-wing measure, but a centrist measure".

François Hollande also stands out on the budget by immediately announcing that he will not censor it, unlike the rest of the PS. “He theorized that his space is the one where we don’t want disorder. Social democracy and the Macronists,” notes a PS deputy.

Nothing to worry about this close friend of Raphaël Glucksmann: "We made a hole with Hollande because he saw himself as the new leader of the central bloc. His supporters are saying that it's too late for him."

A deputy from Place publique judges, on the contrary, that François Hollande is “the main threat”.

“No, there is no desire for François Hollande in the country”, considers a faurist who thinks that the former president has “no base in the first round”.

For his part, someone close to Gabriel Attal concedes that even if Raphaël Glucksmann collapses, he has "difficult to see the space for Hollande, even if he finds him "formidable, very strong".

© 2026 AFP

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