Raphaël Glucksmann won the French center-left’s presidential primary, lifting the European Union lawmaker into next year’s race to succeed President Emmanuel Macron.
Glucksmann, who describes himself as a pro-EU social democrat, took 66% of the votes to defeat four other candidates in an online ballot that ended Sunday, according to organizers. He has ruled out an alliance with Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the head of the far-left party France Unbowed, who didn’t run in the primary.
Mélenchon is polling ahead of Glucksmann, who’s the son of philosopher André Glucksmann. Both trail front-runner Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Rally and Edouard Philippe, a former prime minister under Macron.
Glucksmann defeated Socialist Party general secretary Olivier Faure, who took 14%, and former Socialist presidential candidate and minister Ségolène Royal, who took 7%, in the ballot of about 120,000 primary voters.
Glucksmann, 46, has been a member of the European Parliament since 2019 and is the co-president of center-left political party Place Publique.
The Socialists joined forces with Mélenchon in the last legislative elections. They have since grown increasingly critical of him, while he has criticized them for effectively keeping Macron’s government in power, allowing it to pass the 2025 and 2026 budgets.
Opposition groups have toppled prime ministers twice in just the last two years over budget plans amid reluctance to compromise ahead of the presidential elections.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s government is struggling to push a cost-cutting budget for 2027 through parliament to cap France’s deficit, helping trigger a selloff in French sovereign bonds.
Read more: France Turmoil Threatens to Drag ECB Into Bond Market Showdown
Glucksmann has proposed to increase taxation on top inheritances and championed Ukraine’s EU membership. He’s also known for criticizing China’s treatment of Uyghurs.