Pecresse wins French conservative ticket for presidential election

FILE PHOTO: Ile-de-France administrative region president Valerie Pecresse arrives for a ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France, November 11, 2021. Ludovic Marin / Pool via Reuters/File Photo

PARIS (Reuters) -Valerie Pecresse, who has described herself as "one-third Thatcher, two-thirds Merkel", has won the French conservative Les Republicains (LR) ticket for the 2022 presidential election and will now aim to thwart Emmanuel Macron's re-election bid.

Opinion polls have so far shown the 54-year-old head of the Paris Ile-de-France region winning about 11% of the votes at best in next April's election, giving her little chance of making it to a second-round runoff, let alone winning it.