In the end, he almost reached the heights predicted by the polls in recent weeks. Place Publique and Parti Socialiste (PS) candidate Raphaël Glucksmann finished with a score of 14%, according to Ipsos estimates at 8 pm, more than doubling his performance in the 2019 European elections. The MEP is hot on the heels of the presidential camp's candidate, Valérie Hayer, credited with 15.2% of the vote.

Five years ago, this political novice won 6.19% of the vote, convincing 1.403 million voters, and arriving just behind the radical left La France Insoumise (6.31% and 1.428 million votes). At the PS campaign headquarters at La Bellevilloise in Paris, activists were optimistic shortly before 8 pm. "We're very happy with the grassroots campaign, and to see this new breath emerging on the left," said Yannis, 34, coordinator of Place Publique in Seine-Saint-Denis, a favorite stomping ground for La France Insoumise (LFI).

This is a true victory for Glucksmann. Throughout the campaign, his teams played it safe, hoping for a simple double-digit score. At the beginning of the year, the gap between the candidate and his government rival was much wider. The Socialists have always been more ambitious, setting themselves the target of doubling Hayer's list. "When you play a match, you want to win it," said Pierre Jouvet, number 3 on the list, on the sidelines of a rally in Marseille on June 1. The idea is to "create the political alternative," seven years after the election of Emmanuel Macron. In recent days, momentum was beginning to build on the side of Manon Aubry (La France Insoumise) pushing the PS to show more reserve.

For the Socialists, a new chapter is about to begin, after the disastrous 2022 presidential election, when the party's candidate, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, won just over 1% of the vote. Throughout the campaign, Glucksmann hammered home the point that the election should "slice the line," in other words reshape the balance on the left. He himself wants to continue to have an influence and has promised to be the "guarantor" of the new result emerging from the ballot box. "Whatever happens, we'll never stop fighting," replied LFI leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon at a rally in Lyon on June 6. This was his way of saying that, in his eyes, the election would change nothing.

The unknown lies above all with the "unionists," who dream of fielding a single candidate for the 2027 presidential election. The first secretary of the Parti Socialiste, Olivier Faure, dreams of being the orchestrator of a union that would bring together the Socialists, LFI voters who are at odds with Mélenchon, the Greens and even the Communists. For weeks, several left-wing party leaders have been trying to organize behind the scenes. From Monday onward, articles and interviews from PS, Europe Ecologie-Les Verts (France's Green party), LFI and civil society leaders will be appearing all over the press, calling for a union of the lefts. What would gravity be? its center of gravity? What will emerge from this abundance of voices? The starting gun for a reshaping of the left has been fired.