Her announcement was expected: Christiane Taubira declared, Wednesday, March 2, that she was withdrawing from the race for the Elysée, two days before the deadline for sending 500 signatures of elected officials to the Constitutional Council. From her campaign headquarters, in the middle of the day, the left-wing candidate took note of her inability to validate her ticket for the first round of the presidential election, totaling at this stage only 181 sponsorships.
“Despite the very strong mobilization of volunteers and my campaign team, despite the promises of many elected officials, which have not materialized, it is obvious that we will not be able to bring together the 500 sponsorships“, she let go. Eager to continue to “to fight“, she refused to call to vote for another left-wing candidate.
Since the formalization of his candidacy in mid-January, the former Keeper of the Seals failed to unite her camp, a goal she had set herself when she started running last fall. Risky schedule, laborious polls, criticized and poorly supported project… Franceinfo deciphers the reasons for the failure of Christiane Taubira’s campaign.
Because his statement came late, after months of procrastination
Since the end of the fall of 2021, the little music of a declaration in the presidential election has been coming back with insistence. After several months of hesitation, the former Keeper of the Seals finally took the plunge in two stages. First, on December 17, by declaring, in a video posted on social networks, “to consider being a candidate for the presidency of the French Republic”. Then, a month later, on January 15, when she formalized her candidacy during her first campaign meeting in Lyon.
But just three months from the first round, the former member of Guyana has fallen far behind her competitors on the left. Very quickly, the latter, like the socialist Anne Hidalgo or the “rebellious” Jean-Luc Mélenchon, did not hesitate to castigate “one more application” to the left.
“She is a character who believes herself to be providential. But she has disappeared from political life for six years while others on the left have remained in the fight to win intermediate elections such as municipal or regional”had at the time tackled a tenor of the PS with franceinfo, ensuring that Christiane Taubira had received “dozens of calls from the responsible left to dissuade her from going there”.
Because she embarked alone on the adventure of the popular Primary
It was to be his springboard, his launching pad towards a solid candidacy for the Elysée. Alas, the popular Primary did not allow the former Keeper of the Seals to legitimize his candidacy within an already fragmented left.
She had met several times with the organizers of this citizen ballot in October and November. “She thinks it’s the only way for the left to get back into the race”, said then one of his supporters, Christian Paul. The People’s Primary process appears to be gaining momentum in early December, as Anne Hidalgo and Arnaud Montebourg announce that they are ready to side with a single candidacy.
The situation is very different at the start of 2022. Lacking momentum, Arnaud Montebourg withdraws in mid-January, while Anne Hidalgo affirms that she will maintain her candidacy regardless of the result of the popular Primary. Christiane Taubira is now the only one to support the initiative to the end. At the end of January, the former Minister of Justice also won this informal investiture.
With her victory in the popular Primary and her repeated calls for the union of the left, Christiane Taubira hoped to take off in the polls, which gave her about 5% of voting intentions in January. Quite the opposite is happening in February: opinion polls show a gradual erosion of its meager electoral base, with an average of between 1% and 2% on Tuesday March 1, according to our interactive barometer. “She was elected thanks to the rally and it was difficult to understand what her roadmap was for the rally”regrets Samuel Grzybowski, one of the spokespersons for the Popular Primary, to franceinfo.
Because his project was highly criticized and marked by controversy
The day after his entry into the race for the Elysée, the attacks fuse on his alleged absence of program. Faced with well-established candidates on the left, Christiane Taubira is unable to make her voice heard in this presidential campaign. Even its strongest proposals, such as the revaluation of the Smic to 1,400 euros net, the restoration of the tax on large fortunes or the lowering of VAT to 0% for products from organic farming, in order to of “facilitate access to healthy and quality food”are struggling to make an impression on public opinion.
The vagueness that the candidate maintains around her positions on vaccination against Covid-19 also had a negative impact on her candidacy. At the end of September 2021, the former minister of François Hollande declared on RTL that she “is not intended to call on the Guyanese population to be vaccinated”. A statement that the candidate will drag like a ball and chain throughout the campaign, despite several attempts at clarification.
Another failure that did not go unnoticed during this express campaign: his intervention on the theme of housing at the Abbé-Pierre foundation, on February 2. Asked about a possible increase in the active solidarity income (RSA), deemed insufficient, the figure of Marriage for all stammers, is unable to give a clear answer on the subject.
The Abbé Pierre Foundation had today invited all the candidates – except Éric Zemmour and Marine Le Pen – to come and talk about poor housing.
During her speech, Christiane Taubira appeared somewhat in difficulty on the subject ⬇️#Day-to-day pic.twitter.com/7r9Yfn4MpY
— Daily (@Qofficiel) February 2, 2022
Because his sponsorship collection has been erratic
This is the ultimate failure of this campaign, the one that prevents it de facto to compete in the presidential election, in less than 40 days: Christiane Taubira failed to collect enough sponsorship from elected officials to be present in the first round.
>> Sponsorships for the presidential election: Eric Zemmour, Marine Le Pen and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan exceed the threshold of 500 signatures of elected officials
During her withdrawal speech from the campaign on Wednesday, the now ex-candidate insisted on the character “obsolete” of such a system to stand in the presidential election, contrary to the process of the popular Primary. “This candidacy, rooted in a citizens’ initiative, is prevented by an administrative system” who “is on its last breath”she railed, lambasting parties “who only have their capacity to cause harm”.
There was a time, in this campaign, when Christiane Taubira counted on the elected members of the Radical Left Party (PRG), which had rallied to her candidacy, to raise the counter of sponsorships. The difficulties of the post-Primary popular? Not less than “170 local elected PRG sponsorships will be released next week, don’t worry”entrusted to The Express early February Guillaume Lacroix, support from Christiane Taubira. Monday, February 14, Valentine’s Day, the PRG announces the end of the idyll by putting “withdrawn” of this campaign, faced with the failure of the rally on the left.
Two weeks later, too far from the fateful bar of 500 signatures, the candidate therefore throws in the towel. “Honestly, I don’t see what more she could have done”, assures Samuel Grzybowski, who has supported her for a month. Accusations on left-wing parties, violent attacks on the sponsorship system… Three months after promising to put “all (his) forces in the last chances of the union”Christiane Taubira missed her left bet.