French Greens pick Yannick Jadot as 2022 presidential candidate

France's Greens have chosen Yannick Jadot, a 54-year-old member of the European Parliament, as their candidate for next year's presidential election. 

Yannick Jadot looks on after winning the primary of the ecologists ahead of the French presidential elections on 28 September, 2021. AFP - GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT

Jadot won the vote by a narrow margin, taking just over 51 percent of the vote against almost 49 percent for Sandrine Rousseau.

His runoff rival, sprang a surprise in the first round of online voting last week, finishing a close second out of five candidates with 25.14 percent, compared to Jadot's 27.7 percent.

Analysts credited the strong performance to Rousseau's feminist credentials and her radical proposals on the economy and environment. She wants to introduce a minimum living wage and significantly increase fuel prices and taxes on the rich.

Born in a village in northern France, Jadot worked for NGOs in Burkina Faso and Bangladesh before getting increasingly involved in politics back home while heading several environment-focused NGOs, including the French branch of Greenpeace.

The European Union lawmaker wants France to devote 20 billion euros per year towards transitioning to a more environmentally friendly economy, to progressively end intensive animal farming and to establish a new wealth tax.

#PrimaireEcologiste - les résultats du second tour

122675 inscrites et inscrits
85,41% de participation (104 772 votantes et votants)
2464 votes blancs

Yannick Jadot (@yjadot) est désigné candidat des écologistes pour l’élection présidentielle 2022. pic.twitter.com/uyviivsD4X

— EELV (@EELV) September 28, 2021

Despite their stunning success in the 2020 local elections – which saw the Greens claim control of key city halls including Bordeaux and Lyon – the Europe Ecologie Les Verts (EELV) party has yet to make a major impact at a national level.

Their influence is far behind that of their Greens counterparts in Germany, who have already tasted coalition government and are eager to feature in the next administration, where they may play a kingmaker role.

But the question is whether Jadot, who wants to attract voters beyond the remits of the small Greens party, could emerge as a leader of the fragmented French left – for the next election and beyond – and weigh in on the political debate.

France's two main left-wing parties, the Socialists and far-left France Unbowed, both fear they could lose votes to the Greens.

(With agencies)