Socialist deputy Jérôme Guedj announced on February 5 his candidacy for the 2027 presidential election, refusing to join the unitary left primary. He aims to represent a republican, universalist, and secular left, breaking from Jean-Luc Mélenchon's La France insoumise. This declaration accelerates the programmatic work of the non-Mélenchonist left.
Jérôme Guedj, a 54-year-old deputy from Essonne and member of the Socialist Party (PS), has become the first socialist to officially declare his candidacy for the 2027 presidential election. In an interview on France Inter on Thursday, February 5, he outlined his vision of a 'republican, universalist, and secular left,' uncompromising on the Republic, secularism, universalism, the fight against racism, and antisemitism. 'I am the candidate to first carry this question of values: we do not compromise with the Republic, we do not compromise with secularism, with universalism. We are uncompromising on issues of fighting racism and antisemitism,' he stated.
A former frondeur from the PS's left wing under François Hollande (2012-2017), Guedj has refused to participate in the primary scheduled for October 11, 2026, by socialists and ecologists, which he calls 'baroque.' Although the PS first secretary, Olivier Faure, supports it and may run, no official decision has been made. Guedj criticizes the lack of programmatic clarity and values in this process, seeing it as 'the primary of the small left' according to an interview with the newspaper L'Opinion.
Once close to Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Guedj broke with him after the latter's hesitations in labeling the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, as 'terrorist.' An earlier split occurred when Mélenchon left the PS. In June 2024, Guedj refused to run for the legislative elections under the New Popular Front (NFP) label. He even called Mélenchon a 'antisemitic bastard.' Insoumis deputy Thomas Portes reacted by tweeting 'Macronist candidacy.'
Now a reformist in the PS, Guedj advocates a line of compromise, including with the Macronist center, without calling himself a social-liberal. He seeks to avoid a second-round duel between Mélenchon and far-right Jordan Bardella. Regarding Raphaël Glucksmann, he appreciates his clarity but emphasizes the PS's own identity, calling for a collective framework: 'Let us sit around the table in front of the French. Let us carry a political orientation that marks a difference and a break with a left that hesitates with the Republic, with a left that hesitates with universalism.' This candidacy aims to accelerate the programmatic and strategic work of the non-Mélenchonist left, particularly on social affairs and aging.
