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PARIS , Sep 12 (AP) \u2014 Two French politicians kicked off their presidential campaigns Sunday, seeking to become France\u2019s first female leader in next year\u2019s spring election.<\/p>\n
The far-right National Rally party\u2019s Marine Le Pen and Paris\u2019 Socialist mayor, Anne Hidalgo, both launched their presidential platforms in widely expected moves.<\/p>\n
They join a burgeoning list of challengers to centrist President Emmanuel Macron. This includes battles among multiple potential candidates on the right \u2014 including another female politician Valerie Pecresse \u2014 and among the Greens.<\/p>\n
Hidalgo, 62, mayor of the French capital since 2014, is the favorite to win the Socialist Party nomination. She launched her candidacy in the northwestern city of Rouen.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want all children in France to have the same opportunities I had,\u201d she said, invoking her roots. Hidalgo is the daughter of Spanish immigrants who fled their country in search of freedom amid dictator Francisco Franco\u2019s rule.<\/p>\n
Le Pen, the 53-year-old leader of France\u2019s far-right party, started her campaign in the southern city of Frejus with a pledge to defend French \u201cliberty.\u201d In keeping with a hard-right message that critics say has vilified Muslim communities, Le Pen promised to be tough on \u201cparts of France that have been Talibanized.\u201d Although she launched her candidacy earlier this year, on Sunday she made 26-year-old Jordan Bardella the acting head of the party as her campaign goes into full gear.<\/p>\n
Le Pen is also remaking her image for this election. Gone is the dark blue wardrobe that has been her trademark. She now will be donning light blue for the campaign, \u201cto show our vision, less partisan, (reaching) higher,\u201d Le Pen\u2019s special councillor Philippe Olivier was quoted as saying by Le Figaro, the conservative daily.<\/p>\n
Macron, 43, has not yet announced his reelection bid but is expected to do so. Launching a candidacy in France is a necessary formality for each presidential election.<\/p>\n
The vote is expected to boil down to a duel between Le Pen and Macron, as it was during France\u2019s last presidential election in 2017.<\/p>\n
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PARIS , Sep 12 (AP) \u2014 Two French politicians kicked off their presidential campaigns Sunday, seeking to become France\u2019s first female leader in next year\u2019s spring election. The far-right National Rally party\u2019s Marine Le Pen and Paris\u2019 Socialist mayor, Anne Hidalgo, both launched their presidential platforms in widely expected moves. They join a burgeoning list […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-171532","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171532\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}