In her first address as a presidential candidate for France's main conservative party, Valérie Pécresse vowed Saturday to break with President Emmanuel Macron s centrist policies and to defeat the extremism of the far-right candidates in the race, reports The Independent.
France is holding its presidential race on April 10, with a runoff if needed on April 24. Pécresse, head of the Paris region and a former conservative minister, is first woman chosen to run as The Republicans' presidential candidate.
Since the announcement last week, Pécresse has been gaining in popularity and some polls even have her in a runoff with Macron in the second round of voting. The French president is expected to seek a second term although he has not yet officially declared his candidacy.
Speaking at a conference hall in a Paris hotel, Pécresse assured party members that she will first beat her rivals on the far-right in order to end The Republicans’ streak of presidential defeats.
“We are back on the battlefield to win and the voters know it,” she said. “It will be Emmanuel Macron or us!”
Two far-right contenders — Marine Le Pen, the head of the National Rally party who lost to Macron in the 2017 runoff, and former TV pundit Eric Zemmour — are campaigning on anti-Islam, anti-migrant themes.