Jean-Luc Melenchon, the leading politician in France’s left-wing Unbowed party, says he will run in next year’s presidential election, setting up a potential showdown with centrist and right-wing rivals.

“Yes, I am a candidate,” the 74-year-old told TF1 TV on Sunday.

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It is Melenchon’s fourth presidential bid; he also ran in 2012, 2017 and 2022, when he came third behind far-right leader Marine Le Pen and French President Emmanuel Macron, who made it to the second round of voting.

Melenchon has been growing his share of the vote with each campaign.

In 2012, he had only 11 percent support, but in the last election, he came close to clinching a run-off spot. He won 22 percent of the vote and was only 1.2 percentage points behind Le Pen.

France’s Unbowed party, known by its French acronym LFI, has been a prominent and vocal critic of Israel and its genocidal war on Gaza.

Melenchon described the assault as genocide, and has called for the suspension of the European Union’s association agreement with Israel.

The left-wing leader has backed Spain’s position against the US-Israel war on Iran.

LFI has championed strong environmental regulations and higher taxes on the rich.

With Macron unable to run because of term limits, and Le Pen facing a ban from politics – which she is challenging in court – the 2027 race is wide open.

The election will be held in April, and if no candidate secures a majority in the first round, the run-off will be two weeks later.

Macron – a centrist who formed his Renaissance political party in 2016 – has seen his public support collapse in recent years during economic and government crises.

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No political party was able to win a majority in the 2024 political elections, leaving any government vulnerable to no-confidence votes if opposition parties unite against it. The resulting instability has led France to have several governments and prime ministers over the past two years.

Melenchon’s LFI is the largest party in the New Popular Front – a coalition of left-wing groups and the third largest bloc in the National Assembly.