Sawt Falasteen - 'I'll adapt': First pregnant candidate navigates French presidential race

The 39-year-old, who is running to succeed President Emmanuel Macron in next year's election, announced at the end of March that she was three months pregnant with a "miracle baby".

The unplanned pregnancy followed a miscarriage and several unsuccessful attempts at assisted reproduction and in vitro fertilisation (IVF), which had put her plans for another child on hold.

The left-wing candidate said the news left her feeling "dizzy", but that the decision to continue campaigning was "never in doubt".

Instead, she had to consider how to navigate the race as the first French politician to run for president while expecting.

She is doing so at a crucial stage in the campaign, with candidates on the left, centre and right jostling for position just months before an election that may come down to a face-off with the far right.

-'Exhausting'-

Tondelier said campaigning while pregnant "is a real challenge", recalling having to vomit in train toilets while travelling to support fellow Greens in local elections.

But she has shown little sign of slowing down, travelling across France in an electric van in July while seven months pregnant and as the country grappled with a heatwave.

She only cut her journey short due to wildfires in southwest France, as the smoke is harmful to pregnant women.

"It's exhausting," Tondelier told AFP at the time, though she said it was less so than being in Paris, where her attempt to organise a primary with the left-wing Socialist Party had failed.

Tondelier has advocated for a unified left-wing and Green front, but it remains unclear how many contenders the left will field.

According to polls, her candidacy faces an uphill battle, with recent results putting her in the single digits.

For now, she intends to press on despite any fatigue, telling La Tribune Dimanche newspaper she would campaign "as long as it's reasonable".

She said her run offered an opportunity to champion women's health issues, including reproductive health and struggles with infertility.

Tondelier is also pushing for access to assisted reproductive technology and a test to screen embryos before implantation, which she underwent in Belgium because the procedure is banned in France, she told the newspaper.

Campaigning as an expectant mother has also allowed her to forge a different kind of connection with French voters, she said.

In southwest France, one mother thanked Tondelier and introduced her to her daughter, who was conceived through IVF, while others have asked about the sex of her baby -- a boy -- or her due date, she said.

-'Priorities'-

Tondelier is among a growing number of women in politics speaking openly about the challenges of balancing motherhood and political ambition.

US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez -- seen as a potential presidential contender -- has in recent weeks revealed she is freezing her eggs, sharing videos of herself administering hormone injections.

In 2018, former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern became only the second world leader to have a child while in office, after facing what she described as unacceptable questions about her family plans while running for office.

In France, several politicians have been pregnant while serving as ministers, with many saying the political world remains ill-suited to motherhood.

Some, including Aurore Berge, France's current gender equality minister, chose to keep their pregnancies quiet for fear of a backlash from voters.

For Tondelier, the question now is how to balance the final weeks of her pregnancy with the demands of the campaign.

Already a mother of one, she is due to give birth at the end of September and has not yet decided how long her maternity leave will last, during which a team will cover her duties.

"I'll adapt... to the baby's health and my own," she told La Tribune Dimanche newspaper.

"There are priorities. Even during a presidential campaign."

N.Shalabi--SF-PST