The Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, will run as a candidate for the French Socialists in the 2022 presidential election. The decision in favour of the 62-year-olds was made on Saturday at the party congress.

France’s socialists have now officially made the mayor of Paris, Hidalgo, their candidate for the French presidential election next April. The 62-year-old was elected as a candidate at a party congress in Lille. A week ago she obtained three-quarters of the votes from her own party, which effectively had made her the party’s candidate in 2022.

Hidalgo has been the mayor of Paris since 2014. She was born into a Spanish working-class family. In front of hundreds of supporters, she named social justice and climate protection as the primary agendas of her presidency. She seeks to stand up for those who feel underrepresented, strengthen unions, partially cap rents and establish general unemployment insurance.

Hidalgo currently polls at 4 to 5.5 per cent approval and thus significantly less than a few weeks ago. When Hidalgo announced her will to run for office a month ago, the polls saw her at around eight per cent.

Meanwhile, the right-wing populist journalist Éric Zemmour can look forward to significantly more popularity. Although he is not a declared candidate, he is said to have corresponding ambitions. In some polls, he even came in second with 15 to 17 per cent approval, just overtaking the presidential candidate of the extreme right-wing National Rally, Marine Le Pen. At the top of the polls, with around 23 to 27 per cent, remains the incumbent head of state, Emmanuel Macron.

In all likelihood, the result of the presidential election will once again be decided in a runoff election. For a long time, polls have been indicating another duel between Le Pen and Macron.

Photo by Jacques Paquier (Wikimedia)/Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)