12 French activists, including French European Parliament Member Pierre Larrouturou, announced their intention to launch a hunger strike starting today to push the French left to name one unified candidate for the upcoming presidential election through preliminary elections.

In addition to Larrouturou, the signatories to the press release include a presidential candidate for the preliminary popular elections, Anne Hessel, the daughter of diplomat and human rights defender Stephane Hessel, as well as Pierre Monnet and seven French youths presenting themselves as part of the "Generation of the Climate".

Larrouturou, the founder of Nouvelle Donne, a leftist French party, had previously led a hunger strike in 2020 to obtain more EU credit for climate and healthcare action.

Parce que 5 ans d’inaction climatique de plus seraient criminels,
Parce que les injustices sociales font des milliers de morts,

Notre grève de la faim est l’ultime recours pour pousser les candidats à s’unir et faire gagner notre avenir.#Urgence2022
>> https://t.co/DffMQe4pQk https://t.co/RBTLoKJQtX pic.twitter.com/GNmAUkknPR

— Pierre Larrouturou (@larrouturou) January 7, 2022

"Divide renders any victory impossible"

"Losing five years in the climate battle is irreparable," the hunger-striking activists said in their press release.

"Emmanuel Macron not only never made any effective measure in France to combat climate change, but he is also impeding the work of the European Union," the climate activists added.

They brought to light the fact that the French public knew the left and the green parties were the only ones that acknowledge the climate emergency.

"Divides in the left render any victory impossible, but alliances between leftist candidates could still possibly succeed before mid-February and play a vital role in the presidential campaign," the statement added.

"This is not only about the elections failing, this is about the fate of our humanity," they concluded in their press release.

Some 300,000 people will be voting in the preliminary popular elections between January 27-30 to name one candidate from the left wing's five main picks.