The left in France: one for all?

All of the five leftist candidates in the French presidential election are polling at below ten percent. After the proposal of Socialist Anne Hidalgo to elect a joint candidate was clearly rejected, former justice minister Christiane Taubira is pushing for 'popular primaries' to elect a joint candidate and has put herself forward for election. The national press is sceptical.

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Le Figaro (FR) /

Icons won't solve the problem either

The ex-minister's initiative doesn't open up any new opportunities, Le Figaro comments, dampening expectations:

“The left's share of the vote is modest when it has several candidates in the running. But if two or three of them become only one - in this case Christiane Taubira - the result of this addition is as encouraging as that of a subtraction. The icon who wanted to inject magic into the election campaign with her eloquence sometimes takes a stand and sometimes deliberately remains silent, but that doesn't help either. ... The brutal reality: apart from in a few editorial offices, there is no Taubira effect.”

L'Obs (FR) /

No sign of cohesion

The image the left is currently projecting is downright grotesque, L'Obs concludes:

“The left is a mere shadow of its former self. Time and again, its candidates call for unity, but then complain that they are condemned to stand on their own by the lone wolf attitude of their competitors. All for one and one for me. ... And suddenly Christiane Taubira appears, without troops, without a party, with nothing but a few former socialist rebels who have been sidelined by history as a compass, and talks like a genie out of a bottle about wanting to become the figurehead of a united left.”