Christiane Taubira, who served as justice minister in the last Socialist government, formally announced her intention to run for French president in an already crowded race.
"I am a candidate,” Taubira said in a speech in Lyon, weeks after first touting a possible plan to run. "I have been meeting with the French, with you, in your daily lives. We must reinvigorate our democracy.”
President Emmanuel Macron is the front-runner for April’s elections, and until recently, polls suggested he’d most likely face nationalist leader Marine Le Pen or far-right pundit Eric Zemmour in the second round.