Former French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira has officially launched herself as a candidate in the April presidential elections, with the ambitious goal of uniting a fragmented left, where there are already other candidates to try to dethrone Emmanuel Macron.
The announcement was made this Saturday (15), in Lyon, in the center of the country. If elected, she will be the first woman and first black person to be president of France.
In the speech to launch his candidacy, Taubira said he wanted to respond to “anger” and “social injustices” and defend a government “that knows how to dialogue, instead of giving moral lessons”. “And we will do it together, because we are capable,” he added.
Minister of former socialist president François Hollande, Taubira, 69, was born in French Guiana. She was a candidate in the 2002 presidential election, obtaining 2.3% of the votes.
She presents herself as part of a citizen initiative that seeks to launch a unique candidate from the left. For this, primaries were called for the end of January.
Right now, three months before the first round of the presidential election in France, the reality is quite different. The left already has six candidates and, although none exceeds 10% of voting intentions, there are no signs of any of them intending to join Taubira’s initiative.
Among the candidates on the left are the mayor of Paris, the socialist Anne Hidalgo; the leader of Unsubmissive France, Jean-Luc Melenchon; and environmentalist Yannick Jadot.
According to people close to him, Taubira continues to arouse “fervor” among left-wing voters, disillusioned after Macron’s victory in 2017 and the collapse of traditional parties.
Macron has yet to officially declare himself a candidate, but polls indicate he would win the first round against the far-right candidate, Marine Le Pen, who is closely followed by the right-wing candidate, Valérie Pécresse.
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