French left is divided, weakened in presidential race

PARIS — The French left is running divided and weakened in this year’s presidential race as at least five mainstream presidential candidates have rejected any alliances 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 to unite their ranks before France’s presidential election is held 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 Sunday evening. But the move already appears bound to fail: key contenders say they wouldn’t respect the outcome because they don’t respect the process.

At least five main candidates ranging from left-wing to the far-left are running for president, in addition to lesser-known contenders. At the moment, none of them appears in a position to reach the two-person 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, has 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, have also rejected the idea of running together despite a traditional alliance between their parties. Another candidate, Fabien Roussel, 52, is running for the Communist Party.

Hidalgo’s campaign has so far failed to prompt enthusiasm from leftist voters. Her once-powerful party remains weakened after Macron’s win in 2017 — when Socialist President Francois Hollande decided not to run for reelection amid unprecedented low popularity ratings.

Jadot unveiled his electoral platform Saturday during a rally in Lyon, saying that climate change is the “biggest challenge” that voters and politicians face.

“Tomorrow’s France must get out of energies of the past,” he said. He promised not to build any new nuclear reactors in France and to progressively replace the old ones by renewable energy, which he said could take up to 25 years. France now relies 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 on the left, former justice minister Christiane Taubira, joined the race in hopes of convincing others to join forces behind her candidacy.

So far, it hasn’t worked. Critics and rivals both say her candidacy is further splintering the French 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, winning 2.3% of the vote.

She agreed to take part in the “Popular Primary” along with some lesser 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.

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Barbara Surk in Nice contributed to this report.