French Green clean out of race

– French Greens Party candidate Yannick Jadot on Thursday announced he was withdrawing from the presidential race and would support Socialist party candidate Benoit Hamon in the election in April and May.

“I am withdrawing as a candidate in the presidential election to take part in a great adventure,” he said on France 2 television, referring to a “marvellous” agreement which had been reached during the day with the Socialists.

Opinion polls have shown Jadot picking up a very small percentage of votes in the election – between 1 and 2%.

Hamon, who was chosen at a Socialist-led primary in January, trails in fourth place in opinion polls – something which will exclude him from a runoff vote. –