Meet Valérie Pécresse, the French centre-right hopeful

“MMMM, A NICE baguette from the Ardennes!” declares Valérie Pécresse, tearing off a chunk of the warm crusty loaf she has just bought at a and popping it into her mouth. The centre-right Republicans’ presidential candidate, and head of the greater Paris region, has taken her campaign to the valleys and forests of north-eastern France on a recent weekday. In the village of Signy-l’Abbaye, no shop or café goes unvisited. As Mrs Pécresse breezes in and out, clutching her loaf, some locals seem bemused. The manager at Le Gibergeon restaurant confesses beforehand to having no idea who the visitor is, but is later charmed. “Oh yes, I recognised her from the telly,” she says. “It would be good to have a female .”After winning her party’s primary in December, Mrs Pécresse recorded a poll bump that made her the most serious contender against President Emmanuel Macron at France’s two-round election in April. she would do about as well against the president in a run-off as would the nationalist-populist Marine Le Pen (though he is tipped to beat either), and much better than the far-right Eric Zemmour. Yet Mrs Pécresse’s first-round numbers have fallen, and her campaign has stalled. On February 13th, at a glitzy rally in Paris, she put in a wooden performance that was criticised even within her camp. The clear danger for Mrs Pécresse is that she will fail to make the run-off at all.