Farmer-activist Bove joins French presidential race
31 Jan 2007 21:12:38 GMT Source: Reuters
By James Mackenzie PARIS, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Farmer-activist Jose Bove joined the French presidential race on Wednesday, pledging to stand up for voters disillusioned with the mainstream parties. "It's for all those people, this invisible France, that I am announcing this morning that I am a candidate," he told Le Parisien newspaper in an interview released ahead of publication on Thursday. The radical activist turned sheep farmer first drew international attention in 1999 when he ransacked the site of a McDonald's hamburger bar being constructed in the Pyrenees town of Millau. Bove, walrus-moustachioed scourge of fast-food chains and genetically modified crops, may have no hope of election but his high personal profile could push the issues he champions up the mainstream agenda. "People have to be at the heart of decisions," he said. "Ecology and the struggle against globalisation are my two other priorities." Although Bove has no formal party backing, the potential for outsiders to cause surprises was shown in 2002 when discontented leftist voters deserted Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, leading to a humiliating first round knockout. The attraction of the radical, anti-globalisation movement for many French voters was also reflected in their rejection of the European constitution in 2005. After the failure of attempts to unite the gaggle of groups on the far left ahead of the 2007 poll, Bove had been expected to try a run, although he may struggle to raise the 500 signatures from mayors needed to register for the vote in April. The two main candidates, Nicolas Sarkozy on the right and Segolene Royal on the left, have both eagerly embraced environmental issues and have even echoed some of the kind of anti-market rhetoric Bove has made his own. But apart from the tiny Green party, environmentalists have lacked a champion with star appeal, especially since Nicolas Hulot, a popular television presenter who embodies ecological issues for many French people, said he would not be running. Bove himself arouses sharply differing feelings and has had several brushes with the law, including time in prison during a series of campaigns that have made him an icon of the anti-globalisation movement. He has campaigned against "malbouffe" (bad food), the World Trade Organisation and the European constitution, been denied entry to the United States and destroyed genetically modified crops, securing a firm position amid a colourful field on the French far-left. His legal problems may yet cause difficulties for his campaign with a judgment from the court of appeal expected next week on whether he faces prison for destroying genetically modified crops.
