Today, Sunday, Socialist Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced her official candidacy for the 2022 presidential elections, in order to “provide a future for all our children”, in the face of what she described as the “division” that controls France.
Hidalgo began announcing her candidacy with sharp criticism of current President Emmanuel Macron, saying that “the five-year period that is approaching its end” was supposed to “unite the French, but it divided them in an unprecedented way.”
“It was necessary to solve the social problems that had exacerbated. (The current presidential term) should have protected our planet, but it has turned its back on the environment,” added Hidalgo, who has been rumored a lot in the past about her intention to run, but has maintained her silence for months.
Hidalgo stressed in her candidacy speech that she wanted to “restore respect and the unity of the country”, after they were weakened by the multiple crises that characterized the term of current President Emmanuel Macron, stressing the need to re-make our French model.
“I want all the children of France to have the same opportunity that I was given (..) I am a candidate to offer a future for our children. For all our children,” said the mayor of Paris, who remembered her Spanish origins and obtained French citizenship at the age of 14.
She added that she wanted “to begin by putting an end to the contempt, the arrogance, the contempt and arrogance of those who know little about our lives, but decide away from us, from everything, all the time.”
During her speech, Anne Hidalgo was surrounded by part of her campaign team, mayors and parliamentarians from all over France.
Various opinion polls give the mayor of Paris between 7 and 9% of the vote, which is still a modest percentage, but once her candidacy is officially announced, this percentage may rise, in addition to the support she might get from her allies in the environmental parties, who formed a reliable team with her. It is in many situations, especially the last one in the municipal elections.
Hidalgo’s first indication about the possibility of her running for the presidential elections was issued exactly a year ago, when she said in an interview with the French magazine “Le Point”, which devoted eight pages to her under the title “Presidency: What if it was Hidalgo?”: “Let’s first define the project that should be That socialists and environmentalists work on it” for their next candidate.
She said, “I can see that the outlook on me has changed. I listen to the comments, I see the warm reactions from Parisians, and the reactions of the French I met this summer. They love combative politicians who are scarred and have faced great challenges, especially when you are a woman.” We are not many who are involved in the political scene.”
The left camp faces a major division among its parties, which makes the scene largely blurry, regarding the chances of winning a candidate who is unanimously agreed upon by these parties. The left tried to gather its ranks last April through a meeting, with Hidalgo at its head, but it did not witness any subsequent steps to bring the views closer.
