Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
AFP: France's new PM Sebastein Lecornu resigns just hours after unveiling cabinet.
Trump: Technical teams will meet again on Monday in Egypt to discuss and clarify the final details, and the first phase is scheduled to be completed this week
US President Donald Trump: Talks with Hamas have been very successful and are moving at a rapid pace
Local sources in Aleppo: Violent clashes erupt between the SDF and factions affiliated with the transitional authority on the Deir Hafer and Tishrin Dam fronts in the eastern Aleppo countryside
Israeli media: Interceptor missiles fired in an attempt to shoot down the drone
IOF Spokesperson: Sirens sounded amid suspected "enemy aircraft" infiltrating the Eilat area
Israeli media: "Israel" won the battle but lost the war strategically and politically
Israeli media: Ben Gurion Airport's airspace closed to air traffic following missile launch from Yemen
Israeli media: Echoes of several explosions heard in central occupied territories
United States: A federal judge temporarily blocks President Donald Trump from deploying 200 Oregon National Guard troops to Portland

Le Pen, Hidalgo Run For French Presidential Elections

  • By Al Mayadeen
  • Source: Agencies
  • 12 Sep 2021 21:58
5 Min Read

Socialist Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and far-right leader Marine Le Pen announce their official candidacy for the French presidential elections.

  • x
  •  French presidential candidates Marine Le Pen and Anne Hidalgo attack President Emmanuel Macron
    French presidential candidates Marine Le Pen and Anne Hidalgo attack President Emmanuel Macron

The socialist Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo announced her official candidacy for the French presidential elections, while the leader of the extreme right Marine Le Pen announced that she will quit the leadership of her party to focus her efforts entirely on next year's presidential elections.

Le Pen, 53, conceded the presidency of her party, the National Rally, to her assistant Jordan Bardella, while she presented her program in detail in a speech she gave in Fréjus. Hidalgo, 52, on the other hand, confirmed her candidacy in a speech in Rouen.

According to an AFP report, opinion polls suggest that Le Pen will pass to the second round of the presidential elections in 2022, knowing that she competed in the last elections with Emmanuel Macron, the current French President. As for Hidalgo, who is running for the first time, her chances of winning remain slim, according to opinion polls.

As Le Pen faces the prospect of competing with Éric Zemmour, the political writer and far-right polemicist whose electoral intentions remain ambiguous, Hidalgo conversely launches her campaign amidst a political scene packed with candidates ranging from the far-left and socialists to environmentalists.

Le Pen vows to withdraw France from NATO's unified command

Seven months before the first round of elections, Le Pen echoed her campaign slogan "Liberties", presenting some of its most prominent themes, such as the fight against immigration and the lack of security.

Le pen promised to organize a referendum on immigration as soon as she is elected and to adopt the maximum level of strictness in the fight against crime, vowing to put French delinquents in prison and foreigners on planes, and to restore the authority's iron-first in drug cities or areas that have become more like Taliban areas.

She promised to approve a popular consultation referendum that would allow the presentation of laws or legal amendments on citizens and a proportional electoral system.

Related News

Belgian triathlete withdraws from Paris Olympics after swim in Seine

Olympic organizers will not hold open water swimming in Seine

On the international level, she stressed that France will withdraw from NATO's unified leadership, which, in her opinion, spreads the outdated war logic of the two former blocs during the Cold War, criticizing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on this occasion.

France will decide freely which wars or military interventions to go through to be determined according to its national interest, she said, stressing that no French citizen will go to his death in wars that are not France's.

Concerning European institutions, she promised to return power to the nations and said, "We will recognize the right of every country to prioritize its national interest," stressing its determination to "put an end to the crazy technocratic dictatorship" that she accuses European institutions of imposing.

Hidalgo did not reveal the details of her international program

For her part, Hidalgo dispelled speculations, declaring that she is a candidate dedicated to "providing a future for our children, all of our children," stressing her "experience" as mayor of Paris and her policy in combating pollution caused by automobiles, highlighting the environmental dimension of her campaign.

She declared, "We have to accomplish the environmental transformation", promising a "5-year plan to decarbonize our economy", and to start negotiations for increasing wages, expanding decentralization, and other topics such as the right to voluntary euthanasia.

Hidalgo did not reveal the details of her international program, just saying that she wanted a stronger and more confident France that can once again have its voice heard in Europe and across the world.

Both candidates attack President Macron

The two candidates attacked President Emmanuel Macron, describing him as "arrogant". Hidalgo said she wanted to "put an end to the contempt", stressing the importance of "respect".

As for Le Pen, who lost the last elections to Macron, she saw that "there is nothing more hateful than a government that shows contempt", going through the many demonstrations that took place during Macron's presidency, from the yellow vests movement to the protests against the French health pass aimed at combating the Covid-19 pandemic.

The two candidates addressed the issue of women, and Hidalgo confirmed that the 2022 elections could be an opportunity for the first meeting of a female French president with french women, promising that women would finally achieve full and complete equality in wages, as well as in careers.

Le Pen, for her part, spoke of women facing a lack of security, vowing to toughen penalties against street harassment and to fight for women's freedom. 

"We will restore the freedom of movement of women and girls without harassment or threats... at any hour of the day or night, in any neighborhood," she said.

  • Anne Hidalgo
  • Emmanuel Macron
  • France
  • Macron
  • Presidential elections
  • Marine Le Pen

Most Read

Hamas fighters stand in formation ahead of a ceremony to hand over Israeli captives to the Red Cross in Nuseirat, Gaza Strip, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP)

Hamas reviews Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan as PIJ rejects

  • Palestine
  • 30 Sep 2025
Iraq at a crossroads: A new war front?

Iraq at a crossroads: A new war front?

  • West Asia
  • 30 Sep 2025
A Hamas fighter in combat fatigues stands before the ceremony for the handover of Israeli captives to the Red Cross in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, February 22, 2025 (AP)

Hamas responds to Trump plan, backs Gaza withdrawal, exchange

  • Politics
  • 3 Oct 2025
Tucker Carlson speaks at a memorial for Charlie Kirk, Sunday, September 21, 2025, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona (AP)

Tucker Carlson: Israeli officers gave orders on Iran inside Pentagon

  • Politics
  • 2 Oct 2025

Coverage

All
War on Gaza

Read Next

All
French far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, listens to France Unbowed party parliament member Mathilde Panot during a demonstration after a Gaza-bound aid flotilla was illegally raided by the IOF, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025 in Paris (AP)
Politics

French MPs on hunger strike after their detainment in 'Israel'

Gaza residents fear trap as Trump’s plan offers little relief
Politics

Flying promises and bombs: Gazans hopeful, yet deeply distrustful

Two years of destruction: Gaza endures war, famine, and displacement
Politics

UNRWA details Gaza's two years under war, famine, and displacement

In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, visits a military hardware exhibition in Pyongyang, Notrh Korea Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025 (AP)
Politics

DPRK's Kim unveils new advanced weapons at 'Defiance Development 2025'

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS