--- description: Two of France's left-leaning candidates in the French presidential election are in talks to join forces title: France Election: Hamon, Melenchon May Unite Against Le Pen image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt546e48476a543af9/6988bac07cdbac5498d572cb/benoit-hamon-jean-lu-melenchon.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # France's Leftwing Candidates Consider Uniting to Trounce Marine Le Pen ## Video: Two Frontrunners Emerge in First Round of French Presidential Vote [Watch (HLS stream): Two Frontrunners Emerge in First Round of French Presidential Vote](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/1jSAkHVd.m3u8) (2:14)  _Published 2017-02-10. Centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right populist Marine Le Pen advanced Sunday to a runoff in France's presidential election, remaking the country's political system and setting up a showdown over its participation in the European Union._ by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Updated: Dec 14, 2023 11:04 PM CUTPublished: Feb 17, 2017 3:19 PM CUT  French Socialist Party presidential candidate, Benoit Hamon, speaks during a press conference following the inauguration of his campaign headquarters on February 11, 2017 in Paris. French Socialist Party presidential candidate, Benoit Hamon, speaks during a press conference following the inauguration of his campaign headquarters on February 11, 2017 in Paris.Philippe Lopez—AFP/Getty Images by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Updated: Dec 14, 2023 11:04 PM CUTPublished: Feb 17, 2017 3:19 PM CUT Two of the most left-leaning candidates in France’s presidential election [are in talks to join forces](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-election-idUSKBN15W14N "undefined"), in what would be the latest twist in a turbulent race for the Élysée Palace. “We are having discussions and we will continue to have discussions,” Socialist Benoît Hamon said of Friday of his potential team-up with the Left party’s Jean-Luc Melenchon, [_Reuters_ ](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-election-idUSKBN15W14N "undefined")reports. Hamon’s party is currently in power in France, but his candidacy has been hampered by the historic unpopularity of current President François Hollande. Polls suggest that a potential pair-up between Hamon and hard-left Melenchon might help them get through to the May 7 run-off, likely to face the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen of the National Front Party. According to an [Opinionway-Orpi ](http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/2017/02/17/97001-20170217FILWWW00146-sondage-fillon-et-macron-a-egalite-derriere-le-pen.php "undefined")poll published Friday, Le Pen is expected to get 26% of the votes in the first round of the election in April, while Hamon and Melenchon would respectively get 16% and 13%. Hamon told [_Bloomberg_](https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-02-16/candidate-trump-tries-to-salvage-an-embattled-president-trump "undefined") that he was also in discussions about a single candidacy with the Green Party’s Yannick Jadot. “What we need to discuss is the conditions under which we could come together and who in the end could — between Yannick Jadot, Jean-Luc Melenchon and myself — be best suited to embody the Left at the second round of the French presidential race with a program that could be shared” Hamon told _Bloomberg_. The French presidential race has been upended by an ongoing scandal over allegations that former frontrunner François Fillon of Les Republicains paid his wife with public funds for work she did not do. \[[_Reuters_](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-election-idUSKBN15W14N "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4674432/jean-luc-melenchon-and-benoit-hamon-pair-up/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4674432/jean-luc-melenchon-and-benoit-hamon-pair-up/"},"headline":"France's Leftwing Candidates Consider Uniting to Trounce Marine Le Pen","datePublished":"2017-02-17T15:19:06.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-14T23:04:03.000Z","description":"Two of France's left-leaning candidates in the French presidential election are in talks to join forces","url":"https://time.com/4674432/jean-luc-melenchon-and-benoit-hamon-pair-up/","keywords":["France"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt546e48476a543af9/6988bac07cdbac5498d572cb/benoit-hamon-jean-lu-melenchon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara John","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-john/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt546e48476a543af9/6988bac07cdbac5498d572cb/benoit-hamon-jean-lu-melenchon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"French Socialist Party presidential candidate, Benoit Hamon, speaks during a press conference following the inauguration of his campaign headquarters on February 11, 2017 in Paris.","caption":"French Socialist Party presidential candidate, Benoit Hamon, speaks during a press conference following the inauguration of his campaign headquarters on February 11, 2017 in Paris.","creditText":"Philippe Lopez—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4674432/jean-luc-melenchon-and-benoit-hamon-pair-up/","name":"France's Leftwing Candidates Consider Uniting to Trounce Marine Le Pen"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Two Frontrunners Emerge in First Round of French Presidential Vote","description":"Centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right populist Marine Le Pen advanced Sunday to a runoff in France's presidential election, remaking the country's political system and setting up a showdown over its participation in the European Union.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/1jSAkHVd/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-02-10T19:56:32.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/1jSAkHVd.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4674432/jean-luc-melenchon-and-benoit-hamon-pair-up/","duration":"PT2M14S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4674432/jean-luc-melenchon-and-benoit-hamon-pair-up/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```