Currently there are many declared and undeclared candidates, some of whom have no chance, some of whom are dark horses, and some of whom are certain to persue their candidacy. A very recent poll (see above) of Politico gives an overview of cadidates who are more or less serious. The statistic is interesting: the percentage reflects the percentage of voters who would never vote for that particular candidate. According to this poll technically no one will become president, because even the most favorably polling candidates are rejected by a majority of voters, which says something about the relation of voters with politics.

Some candidates are not really serious. François Hollande has already been a forgettable president, and while he keeps writing books about the bright future of the united left in France, it is not likely he will end up in the Élysée - he is quite literally a has been, who currently does much to divide the left.

Dominique de Villepin, former diplomat and prime minister under Jacques Chirac in 2007 would be wise to focus on his recent career: writing the history of the Napoleonic era - his books on Napoleon are superb and probably do a better service to France than his presidency would.

That Éric Zemmour is (for now) rejected by more than two thirds of the voters is hopeful. His abject ideas on how Pétain has actually tried to save the Jews in France during the Second World War should relegate him to the margins.

Raphaël Glucksmann is a serious candidate. He is currently an MEP. He has won the open primary of the left, which may seem like a big thing, but only 100.000 voters participated so he has not yet united France. He has not even united the left, because Jean Luc Mélenchon of the radical-left La France Insoumise will not become a member of a united left which almost certainly will divide the left vote too much to be a real factor in this election.

Gabriel Attal, currently not wanted by 59% of the voters, is the hope of the center and heir of Macron. He announced his candidacy in Mur-de-Barrez in the Aveyron, far from Paris, which makes him a lone Girondin in a landscape of Jacobins. Non-centrist, internationalist, in favor of free markets, wanting a leading role for France in Europe, but saddled with the baggage of Macron, that "only" 59% of voters does not want him at this moment might actually show his strength. Let's hope that for him counts what he hopes for France: that the best days are still ahead.

(Maastricht, 30 X 2026)