Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo announces French presidential bid

The 62-year-old daughter of Spanish immigrants is the hot favourite to win the nomination of the Socialist party.

The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, has announced she will run for president in next year’s election, joining a growing list of challengers to centrist incumbent Emmanuel Macron. The 62-year-old daughter of Spanish immigrants who fled Francisco Franco’s dictatorship is the hot favourite to win the nomination of the Socialist party. But the first female mayor of Paris will need to expand her profile nationally to become France’s first woman president.