America
Carly Fiorina first woman to seek Republican presidential nomination
Washington, May 4
Carly Fiorina, former CEO of
Hewlett-Packard, has formally announced that she will seek the
Republican nomination for the presidency in 2016 and so becomes the
first woman to enter the race on the conservative side.
Efe news
agency reported on Monday that Fiorina, 60, announced her candidacy in a
video on her new campaign website and in an interview on the ABC
television network, during which she called herself "the best person for
the job" because she understands "how the economy actually works".
Fiorina
was chief executive officer of the Hewlett-Packard company between 1999
and 2005 and has never held political office, though in 2010 she
unsuccessfully tried to take the Senate seat for California from
incumbent Senator Barbara Boxer, a Democrat.
Since last December,
Fiorina has made the rounds of several states trying to pick up votes
and has been highly critical of former Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton, the other woman aiming to take the presidency in 2016, but on
the Democratic side.
Monday was also the day that neurosurgeon
Ben Carson formally announced, during a speech in Detroit, that he
aspires to the Republican candidacy, becoming the first African American
to do so.
Then on Tuesday, the ex-governor of Arkansas, Mike
Huckabee, is expected to throw his hat in the ring for the Republican
nomination, and plans to announce his candidacy at an event in his
hometown of Hope, Arkansas.
Experts give little chance of victory
to Fiorina, Carson or Huckabee, who will make their bids for the White
House against three other hopefuls for the Republican nomination who are
already in full campaign mode: Senators Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Marco
Rubio.
Florida's ex-governor Jeb Bush has not yet formally
announced his run but has been campaigning for months, while another
contender on the Republican side is expected to be Wisconsin Governor
Scott Walker.
On the Democratic side, the list is much shorter,
with only two hopefuls for now -- Hillary Clinton, ahead in all the
polls, and the independent Senator Bernie Sanders, who defines himself
as a socialist.