France’s rightwing opposition party has chosen a female candidate for next year’s presidential election for the first time in its history, reports The Observer.
Valérie Pécresse emerged victorious after two rounds of voting by members of Les Républicains that unexpectedly saw favourites including “Monsieur Brexit” Michel Barnier knocked out in the first vote last week.
Pécresse now faces an uphill struggle to impose herself on the presidential campaign, with the election a little over four months away, on 10 April. Among her rivals will be Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, the Socialist party candidate who is trailing in the polls and with whom Pécresse has regularly clashed over city hall decisions.
Supporters chanted “Valérie, Valérie” as the result of the poll of 150,000 party members was announced on Saturday afternoon showing she had beaten her hard-right rival Éric Ciotti by 61% to 39%. Neither had been a favourite to come through the first round.
Pécresse, 54, is currently president of the Île-de-France regional council, which includes Paris. She served as budget minister and higher education minister during Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007-12 presidency.
“For the first time in its history, our party will have a female candidate for the presidential election,” she said. “Between the outgoing president and me, there’s a difference in our natures. Emmanuel Macron has one obsession, which is to please. Me, I have only one passion, which is to do.”
She added: “Nothing is doomed. We are not condemned either to disorder or to decline. Our country is full of talent, full of energy.
“The Republican right is back … we will give our country back its unity, its dignity and its pride.”