BBC: France's traditional right-wing Republicans party is preparing to fight for its life in the presidential election next spring. Its surprise choice of Valérie Pécresse as candidate has boosted the party, with a new opinion poll suggesting she could beat Emmanuel Macron to become France's first female president.
You know you're making headway as a female politician when people start analysing your clothes.
For Valérie Pécresse, it began with a red jacket, worn for her victory speech after winning the nomination for Les Républicains.
One daily newspaper even asked fashion historians to decrypt it.
"This red jacket was chosen to distinguish her from the crowd," one said. "It's the colour of power."
Another described it as evoking "warrior spirit [and] blood".
Just a few days later, a poll by Elabe suggested that, if the election were held today, Valérie Pécresse would beat President Macron in a run-off vote by 52% to 48%.
That's encouraging news for a party that's been out of power for nine years, eaten away from one side by Mr Macron and from the other by France's far-right leader, Marine Le Pen. Her close ally and senator for Hauts-de-Seine, Roger Karoutchi, says Mrs Pécresse is a reassuring figure, because of her experience in running the Paris region with its 12 million inhabitants.
"It's not enough to be a woman; you have to be a stateswoman," he said. "[She] has been a minister, a deputy, a regional president. She has a proven track record on issues like secularism and security. She's extremely pugnacious: when she has a goal, she goes for it." » | Lucy Williamson, BBC Paris correspondent | Saturday, December 11, 2021
Présidentielle 2022 : la popularité de Valérie Pécresse en forte hausse, selon un sondage : La candidate LR à l'élection présidentielle est la deuxième personnalité préférée des Français, selon le baromètre Odoxa-Mascaret pour LCP-Assemblée nationale, Public Sénat et la presse régionale. »
