Valérie Pécresse steps up and announces her presidential candidacy

The president of the Île de France region during the second round of the regional, June 20, 2021. REUTERS - SARAH MEYSSONNIER

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2 min

Valérie Pécresse declared her candidacy in

Le Figaro

this Thursday, July 22.

The recently re-elected president of the Île-de-France region wants to “ 

restore French pride

 ”.

She is another competitor on the right.

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If Valérie Pécresse is throwing herself into the heart of the summer, it is because she wants to occupy the field and not let Xavier Bertrand impose himself as the essential candidate for the right.

Both have in common to have left Les Républicains (LR), whose political line they criticized.

Valérie Pécresse had distanced herself from the party in 2017 by creating the Libres! Movement in opposition to the president of the party at the time, Laurent Wauquiez, considered too populist.

Different strategies

But they do not have the same strategy: Xavier Bertrand wants to win

without going through a primary

while for Valérie Pécresse, it is the only democratic solution to appoint a candidate. While the Les Républicains party procrastinates on the mode of designation of this candidate, Valérie Pécresse accelerates, reinforced by her re-election at the head of the Île-de-France region. " 

I can not stand that we talk instead of acting 

", says the ex-LR, eager to " 

break with 10 years of bad choices, half-measures, indecision, and ultimately the sagging of our country 

”.

At 54, she launched for the first time in the presidential race.

The former minister of Nicolas Sarkozy wishes to defend a right " 

firm on the regal, secular, but also environmentalist, liberal, pro-business, feminist and social

 ".

Describing herself " 

more reformist 

" than Emmanuel Macron and having " 

more authority than Marine Le Pen 

", she said she wanted to travel the country during the summer.

On the right, it is therefore the second officially declared candidate, but, warns the president of LR Christian Jacob, “ 

no one will win the 2022 presidential election alone.

 " 

► 

To read also: Presidential in France: on the right, Valérie Pécresse takes a step towards the primary

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