Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on January 28, 2026
1 min readLast updated: January 28, 2026
Philippe and Attal are leading centrist candidates for the 2027 French election, challenging Macron's bloc amid political shifts.
PARIS, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Former French Prime Ministers Edouard Philippe and Gabriel Attal are the favoured candidates to lead the centrist challenge in next year's presidential election, said an Elabe/BFM TV poll on Wednesday.
The centrist French political bloc close to President Emmanuel Macron lost its grip in the lower house of parliament after Macron called a snap parliamentary election in 2024, and it has faced unyielding pressure from both the far-right National Rally (RN) and far-left France Unbowed (LFI) parties.
Philippe - Macron's first prime minister - has consistently portrayed himself as a 2027 presidential candidate.
He has also increasingly criticised Macron in recent years, as Macron's attempts to get a budget through parliament has faced consistent challenges from opposition parties.
The Elabe/BFM TV poll added that former Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau was seen as the favoured candidate from the traditional, conservative right-wing camp for the 2027 election.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten)
The article discusses the leading centrist candidates for the 2027 French presidential election, focusing on Philippe and Attal.
Edouard Philippe and Gabriel Attal are the favored centrist candidates for the 2027 French presidential election.
Macron's bloc faces challenges from the far-right National Rally and far-left France Unbowed parties.
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