French Far-left presidential candidate for the 2022 election Jean-Luc Melenchon gestures as he speaks during a meeting in Nantes, western France, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022. Far-left French presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon sought Sunday to reinvigorate his flagging campaign for April’s election with an “immersive and olfactory” rally, using 360-degree video and smells diffused through an exhibition hall in the western city of Nantes. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez)
PARIS (AP) — The French left runs divided and weakened in the presidential race as at least five main candidates rejected any alliance with each other — and an online vote meant to pick a leader Sunday appears doomed to fail.
The so-called Popular Primary has been organized by left-wing supporters as an initiative meant to unite their ranks before the election scheduled in two rounds on April 10 and 24.
More than 460,000 people registered for the primary. Results of the four-day online vote are expected on Sunday evening. But the move already appears bound to fail: key contenders said they wouldn’t respect the outcome because they don’t respect the process.
At least five main figures from the left and the far-left are running for president, in addition to smaller candidates. At the moment, none of them appears in a position to reach the runoff in April’s election.
Centrist President Emmanuel Macron, who doesn’t hide his intention to run for reelection, is considered the front-runner. Conservative candidate Valérie Pécresse and two far-right figures, Marine le Pen and Eric Zemmour, are the main challengers according to polls, placing far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon in fifth position.
Melenchon — a political firebrand with a notorious temper — refuses to form a united front with other left-wing candidates. The 70-year-old politician, who heads the “Rebel France” party, promised to guarantee jobs for everyone, raise the minimum wage, lower the retirement age to 60 and hike taxes on multinationals and rich households.
The Greens’ contender, Yannick Jadot, 54, and the Socialist candidate, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, 62, also rejected the idea to run together despite a formerly traditional alliance between their parties. Another candidate, Fabien Roussel, 52, is running for the Communist Party.
Hidalgo’s campaign so far failed to prompt enthusiasm from leftist voters. Her once-powerful party remains weakened after the election in 2017 of Macron — when Socialist President Francois Hollande decided not to run for reelection amid unprecedented popularity.
Jadot unveiled on Saturday his electoral platform during a rally in Lyon, saying climate change is the “biggest challenge” to face.
“Tomorrow’s France must get out of energies of the past,” he said. He promised not to build any new nuclear reactor in France and to progressively replace the old ones by renewable energy, which he said could take up to 25 years. France is relying on nuclear power for 70% of its energy.
Jadot also vowed to combat social injustice via ensuring a minimum revenue of 920 euros ($1,026) financed by the state to all adults living in poverty.
Earlier this month, another well-known figure of the left, former justice minister Christiane Taubira, joined the race in the hope of convincing others to join forces behind her candidacy.
So far, it hasn’t worked. Critics and rivals said her candidacy is further splintering the left.
Taubira, 69, is a staunch feminist and a champion of minorities. She is revered for championing a same-sex marriage bill into French law in 2013. She last ran for president in 2002, the first Black woman to do so in France, and she garnered 2.3% of the vote.
She agreed to take part in the “Popular Primary” along with some smaller candidates.
“It’s embracing democracy and democracy offers no guarantees. The outcome is unpredictable. It’s a risk, but it’s a risk we have chosen to take together,” she told her supporters this week in the southwestern city of Bordeaux.
But Jadot, Hidalgo and Melenchon said they won’t comply with the result of the vote.
Barbara Surk in Nice contributed to this report.
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