Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, PS candidate for regional © Antoine Merlet
–
The prospect of a duel against Laurent Wauquiez assured Najat Vallaud-Belkacem a remarkable return to the political arena. But the weight of the PS label could relegate it to the background of this election.
With these regions, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem is going back to basics. It all started for her in Lyon and at the regional council. She entered politics in 2004 on Jean-Jack Queyranne’s lists. His name had been breathed by the Collomb couple. Najat Vallaud-Belkacem then left Sciences Po Paris where she had sympathized with Caroline Collomb. In Lyon, she appears as the rising star of the PS. At the regional council, she quickly rose through the ranks, following the reshuffles of the executive of Jean-Jack Queyranne, until becoming vice-president in charge of culture.
A national destiny
Spotted by Ségolène Royal, she became his spokesperson during the 2007 presidential campaign. Five years later and while her star had faded in the Collomb galaxy, she occupied the same role with François Hollande during his victorious presidential campaign . Najat Vallaud-Belkacem will be one of the few ministers who have been in all the governments of the socialist quinquennium. First for women’s equality then at the Ministry of National Education. Its course and its action will sustainably split. PS activists adore him when the right makes him a hated figure. During the 2015 regional campaign, the only mention of his name in Laurent Wauquiez’s meetings was greeted by a string of whistles.
Politics outside the walls
After the failure of the PS in 2017, 6% in the first round of the presidential election, the career of Najat Vallaud-Belkacem will come to a halt. In Villeurbanne, on a legislative constituency hastily cataloged as forever socialist, it is defeated by Bruno Bonnell, whose route it crosses in this campaign of regional. Despite this failure, the survivors of the PS offered him the presidency of the party. Najat Vallaud-Belkacem is declining. To break her image as a professional in politics, whose words have been demonetized at the option of a mandate marked by hiccups, she joined the private sector and the Ipsos polling institute as deputy general manager in charge of the department “ International studies and social innovation ”. In April 2020, she took over the French management of the NGO One, founded by Bono, which fights against extreme poverty. She also manages a collection within the Fayard publishing house.
Read also: At the great meeting of Najat Vallaud-Belkacem in Lyon, Laurent Wauquiez on everyone’s lips …
After three years of politics outside the walls, she motivates her return by the presence of Laurent Wauquiez. “She’s not just coming back for regional elections. She will animate the PS in the metropolis and the region where we suffer from a leadership deficit ”, we warn those around them. Najat Vallaud-Belkacem will also play a role in 2022 in the legislative elections. Probably in Villeurbanne where the PS maintained its municipal positions. A victory over Laurent Wauquiez would have propelled her into the race for the presidential candidacy within a left in lack of voters as candidates. But this scenario seems more unlikely with each poll. Najat Vallaud-Belkacem hoped to push environmentalists to join her on the basis of a dynamic poll. But since this fall, all the polls have placed her one point behind Fabienne Grébert. The ambitions of the former Minister of National Education come up against the very slow recovery of the PS while environmentalists are gaining momentum. Aware of the weight of the PS label, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem has also masked it on his campaign documents and presents himself as the candidate for a rally of ten left-wing forces.
Bio express
Najat Vallaud-Belkacem
44 years
• Born in Beni Chiker (Morocco)
• French Managing Director of the NGO One
• Current term: none
• Former mandates:
regional councilor (2004-2008), municipal councilor in Lyon (2008-2013), regional councilor (2008-2014),
Minister of National Education (2014-2017).
Read also : candidates, programs … Everything you need to know about regional regions with the 50-page special issue of Lyon Capitale
Also find sfor the regional ones:
–
– .
