A flat knitting machine comprising: at least a pair of front and back needle beds; a knitting needle arranged in each of a plurality of needle grooves arranged side by side in a longitudinal direction of each needle bed; and a cam system for causing the knitting needle to carry out a knitting operation by acting on a plurality of butts arranged on the knitting needle to advance and retreat the knitting needle in the longitudinal direction of the needle groove; the knitting needle including, a knitting butt for advancing and retreating the knitting needle when acted upon by the cam system, a selecting butt that sequentially takes at least two positions, a first position and a second position, towards a needle bed gap side in a longitudinal direction of the knitting needle, and changes the knitting operation to be carried out by the knitting needle according to the position, and a raising butt for changing the position of the selecting butt; the cam system including, a needle raising cam that acts on the knitting butt to advance the knitting needle when the selecting butt is at the second position, stitch cams (85, 86), arranged in a pair on left and right of the needle raising cam, for retreating the knitting needle advanced by the action of the needle raising cam, a pair of left and right selection pressers (7, 8; 6, 6) that take two states, an acting state of projecting out on a travel path of the selecting butt to sink the selecting butt in the needle groove and a non-acting state of not projecting out on the travel path and not acting on the selecting butt when the selecting butt is at the first position, and a pair of left and right raising butt raising cams (87, 87) for pushing up the raising butt towards the needle bed gap to move the selecting butt from the first position to the second position, wherein the cam system reciprocates along the longitudinal direction of the needle beds when knitting a knitted fabric; and the selection pressers (7, 8; 6, 6) are formed to a length capable of sinking the selecting butt in the needle groove to sink the knitting butt in the needle groove so that the knitting butt does not act on the stitch cam (85, 86) when on a following side in an advancing direction of the cam system; the flat knitting machine characterized in that the raising butt raising cam (87, 87) is positioned such that a branched point where the selecting butt transitions from the first position to the second position overlaps with the selection presser (7, 8; 6, 6) on the preceding side as the raising butt raising cam (87, 87) acts on the raising butt on the preceding side in the advancing direction; and a retraction mechanism for retracting part or all of the selection presser (7, 8; 6, 6) from the acting state at the position overlapping with the branched point is arranged. at least a pair of front and back needle beds; a knitting needle arranged in each of a plurality of needle grooves arranged side by side in a longitudinal direction of each needle bed; and a cam system for causing the knitting needle to carry out a knitting operation by acting on a plurality of butts arranged on the knitting needle to advance and retreat the knitting needle in the longitudinal direction of the needle groove; the knitting needle including, a knitting butt for advancing and retreating the knitting needle when acted upon by the cam system, a selecting butt that sequentially takes at least two positions, a first position and a second position, towards a needle bed gap side in a longitudinal direction of the knitting needle, and changes the knitting operation to be carried out by the knitting needle according to the position, and a raising butt for changing the position of the selecting butt; the cam system including, a needle raising cam that acts on the knitting butt to advance the knitting needle when the selecting butt is at the second position, stitch cams (85, 86), arranged in a pair on left and right of the needle raising cam, for retreating the knitting needle advanced by the action of the needle raising cam, a pair of left and right selection pressers (7, 8; 6, 6) that take two states, an acting state of projecting out on a travel path of the selecting butt to sink the selecting butt in the needle groove and a non-acting state of not projecting out on the travel path and not acting on the selecting butt when the selecting butt is at the first position, and a pair of left and right raising butt raising cams (87, 87) for pushing up the raising butt towards the needle bed gap to move the selecting butt from the first position to the second position, wherein the cam system reciprocates along the longitudinal direction of the needle beds when knitting a knitted fabric; and the selection pressers (7, 8; 6, 6) are formed to a length capable of sinking the selecting butt in the needle groove to sink the knitting butt in the needle groove so that the knitting butt does not act on the stitch cam (85, 86) when on a following side in an advancing direction of the cam system; the flat knitting machine characterized in that the raising butt raising cam (87, 87) is positioned such that a branched point where the selecting butt transitions from the first position to the second position overlaps with the selection presser (7, 8; 6, 6) on the preceding side as the raising butt raising cam (87, 87) acts on the raising butt on the preceding side in the advancing direction; and a retraction mechanism for retracting part or all of the selection presser (7, 8; 6, 6) from the acting state at the position overlapping with the branched point is arranged.