Former Prime Minister Of France To Contest 2027 Presidential Election.

Paris; May 2026: France’s Former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said today (Friday – 22nd May 2026) that he would contest for the Presidential elections next year in 2027, when Emmanuel Macron steps down, becoming the second prominent centrist to challenge the far-right. “I can’t take this kind of French politics anymore, where it’s just 50 shades of managing decline”, said the 39 years old, an openly gay Parisian educated, who has been educated in top schools, who eventually turned out to be the France’s youngest Prime Minister at the age of 37 when he served in 2024.

The new Presidential Candidate, made history when he became France’s youngest ever prime minister at the age of 34. He announced his bid under a blazing sun in the southern village of Mur-de-Barrez, a rural area where France’s centrists hope to strengthen their performance against the far-right National Rally (RN) party. The RN party is banking on its best chance yet at winning power next year, with either Marine Le Pen, or Jordan Bardella who is just 30 years of age, running for the country’s top job.

Attal joins a crowded field of candidates, including 55 years old Edouard Philippe, an experienced centre-right Former Prime Minister, and hard-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon, who is 74 years.

Gabriel Attal’s meteoric rise in politics has drawn comparisons with Macron, who was 39 when he won the Elysee Palace in 2017, becoming France’s youngest head of state since Napoleon.

In what appeared to be a move laying the ground for his bid at the presidency, Attal opened up about his love life in a book published last month. He devoted a chapter to “the man of my life”, European commissioner and former minister Stephane Sejourne.

Attal distanced himself from Macron after the President had dissolved French parliament’s lower house in 2024, cutting short his brief tenure as Prime Minister. Macron’s gamble intended to stave off the advance of the far-right, but the snap polls backfired, leading to months of political deadlock. The move allowed the RN to become the single largest party in a hung parliament.

Attal will face fierce competition from Philippe, a former head of government earlier during Macron’s tenure who leads his own Horizons party. Opinion polls suggest Philippe could win the presidential election in a run-off against the far-right. Meanwhile, Attal has quickly risen through the ranks since entering politics in his early 20s.

He was elected to France’s lower house of parliament in 2017 and later served as government spokesperson and budget minister. As the education minister between 2023 and 2024, he tackled bullying and also banned pupils from wearing the abaya, a loose-fitting garment from the shoulders to the feet worn by Muslim women.

Macron’s Renaissance party has often been criticised for its weak local roots, and Attal chose to launch his presidential bid in rural France to send a message of solidarity with ordinary people. “The day we stay locked in Parisian offices, in ministries, is the day politics stops”, he said.

“Having travelled a lot in France and met many French people, I’ve come to a conviction, a very strong one, that our finest chapters are still ahead of us”, he added. Attal, whose father was Jewish, said he had experienced both antisemitism and homophobia. He has also said that he is “Russian Orthodox through my mother”.

Team Maverick.