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France 24
France 24
Politics

A ‘Titanic’ flop: lacklustre rally turns up the heat on conservative front-runner Valérie Pécresse

Les Républicains candidate Valérie Pécresse greets supporters at the Zenith concert hall in Paris on February 13, 2022. © Alain Jocard, AFP

Valérie Pécresse’s first major campaign gathering was meant to energise a sputtering presidential bid rattled by defections and self-doubt. Instead, it exposed a key weakness of a conservative candidate ill-suited to the raucous world of campaign rallies.

Five years after snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, have France’s conservatives once again backed the wrong horse in the race for the Elysée Palace?

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