Former Justice Minister Justice Minister of France Christiane Tobira today announced her candidacy for the country's presidency in a bid to unite the French left and oppose President Emmanuel Macron in April's elections.
I commit myself here before you today because I share with you the ambition for another kind of government, the former minister during the presidency of socialist Francois Hollande (2012-2017) told supporters in Lyon at the official launch of her campaign.
Tobira denounced the strictly top-down flow of power and the absence of social dialogue under Macron's presidency and promised to fight for higher wages, better conditions for pupils and students, health services and environmental protection. The 69-year-old politician, born in French Guiana, France's overseas territory next to Brazil, where she served as a member of parliament, is highly regarded by the left after she fought to pass a law recognizing the slave trade as a crime against humanity and because as justice minister she promoted the passage of a law allowing marriage between same-sex couples in 2013.
Tobira risks, however, to be only one of the six candidates who will claim the vote of the almost 30% of the electorate that votes for the Left: from Jean-Luc Melanson who secures the highest percentage (almost 10%) in JDD's weekly poll to the Green candidate Yannick Zadot and Paris mayor Anne Indalgo (6.5% and 3.5% respectively). A January poll gave Tobira about 4.5% in the vote intention. The other three presidential contenders conservative Valerie Pecres, far-right Marine Le Pen and also far-right Eric Gemouret have some chance of taking on the outgoing Macron in the second round of the election. Although he has not officially announced his candidacy, the president himself shows the highest percentage in the polls in the preferences of one in four voters.
Source: CNA
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