Low blows and a Royal snub: Struggling French left bemoans ‘ugly’ campaign

Paris's Mayor Anne Hidalgo, the Socialist candidate for the French presidency, has lamented an “ugly” campaign for the Elysée Palace dominated by mud-slinging and the revanchist, anti-immigrant rhetoric of the far right. She might just as well have been referring to the tribulations of her equally struggling left-wing rival Christiane Taubira, whose campaign team has accused the Socialists of attempting to push her out of the race.