Former justice minister Christiane Taubira pulled out of France’s presidential race on Wednesday, acknowledging her failure to collect enough signatures from elected officials to become an official candidate in April's two-round election.
"I am putting an end to this needless suspense," Taubira told a news conference, adding that she could not meet the requirement to collect 500 signatures – or "parrainages" (sponsorships) – from elected officials across France before a March 4 deadline.
Taubira, who was polling at around 2% in voter surveys, had collected only 181 signatures by Tuesday, according to data published on the website of France's Constitutional Council.
"My candidacy is hindered by an administrative process that I believe will not survive this election," said the darling of France's activist left, who became the first Black woman to run for the French presidency in 2002.
The “parrainages” rule, in place since the mid-1970s, is designed to filter out some of the more eccentric electoral contenders ahead of the first round.
Taubira, who served as justice minister under former Socialist President François Hollande, threw her hat into the ring in January, hoping to unite France’s fractured left behind her.
>> Profile: Christiane Taubira, icon of the French left
She won a so-called “people’s primary” poll in late January – a grassroots initiative aimed at finding a unity candidate among France's many leftist presidential hopefuls.
But her victory in that poll further fragmented the left and her campaign failed to gather momentum, leaving her trailing at the back of the pack.
(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS)
