The Socialist mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, has announced a bid for the French presidency, saying that as a woman with working-class, immigrant roots she will try to repair the anger and divisions in French society and win back low-income workers disillusioned with the left, reports The Guardian.
“The Republican model is disintegrating before our eyes,” Hidalgo told supporters gathered on the docks in Rouen, Normandy. She warned of growing inequalities, saying: “I want all children in France to have the same opportunities I had.”
Hidalgo, 62, is the first female mayor of Paris and is best known for her campaign to reduce the number of cars in the French capital, increase the number of bike lanes and make the city greener. This has earned her popularity among a firm base of largely well-off urban voters on the left, but it has proved polarising and angered the car lobby.
Hidalgo has a difficult task ahead. The Socialist party has been floundering since the one-term presidency of François Hollande, who ended up so unpopular he did not even seek a second mandate in 2017. Working-class voters have deserted the party, which some feared could disappear after its historically low score of 6% at the last presidential election in 2017.
Hidalgo, who has the backing of a new generation of younger Socialist mayors seeking to reinvent the party, has centred her campaign firmly on her story of “overcoming class prejudice” to win back voters.