Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Matt Mathers

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo aims to oust Emmanuel Macron in bid for French presidency

AP

The socialist mayor of Paris has entered the race for the French presidency, aiming to oust Emmanuel Macron.

Anne Hidalgo of the Socialist Party announced her bid to run on Sunday.

The 62-year-old has centred her campaign on "overcoming class prejudice" and is the favourite to win her party's nomination.

“The Republican model is disintegrating before our eyes,” she told supporters at the docks in Rouen, a city in Normandy about 75 miles northwest of the capital.

“I want all children in France to have the same opportunities I had.”

Ms Hidalgo joins a growing list of politicians challenging President Macron, who has not yet announced his re-election bid but is widely expected to do so.

The far-right National Rally Party’s Marine Le Pen also confirmed on Sunday her third tilt at the highest office in the land.

Both women are vowing to become France's first female president.

Ms Hidalgo is the daughter of Spanish immigrants, who fled Andalucia to escape Franciso Franco's dictatorship.

She grew up near Lyon, and during her speech on Sunday, cited her “humble” beginnings on a housing estate in order to appeal to workers and those who have marched for more “social justice”, including the gilets jaunes (yellow vests).

Ms Hidalgo said her experience as a working-class woman with immigrant roots would help to heal divisions in French society.

“Here in the port of Rouen, I think of my dad who worked in the shipyards of Cadiz and my mother, a seamstress,” she said.

Ms Hidalgo is perhaps best known for her campaign in her current job to reduce the number of cars and increase bicycles in Paris, making the city greener.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.