A first-time candidate for parliament campaigns for the newly unified left. Why a Frenchman has set up camp in one of Gustav Eiffel's ancient plane trees. France marks the jubilee of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II.
One of the most interesting parts of the upcoming parliamentary elections in France is the way the famously splintered left has come together. For the first time since the 1970s the left is unifying, rallying behind hard left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who hopes to become prime minister. Mélenchon’s France Unbowed party has joined forces with the Greens, Socialists and Communists to form NUPES – New Popular Ecological and Social Union – with the different parties fielding just one common candidate per constituency. In Paris' 7th district, the NUPES candidate is lawyer Caroline Mecary. A newcomer to party politics, she never expected to run for a seat in parliament but is approaching the task with energy and conviction as she tries to unify disparate parts on the left in her first ever campaign. (Listen @0')
