FRANCE Runoff to decide candidate at helm of left-wing party
PARIS — Manuel Valls, a center-leaning former prime minister who rallied France together after extremist attacks, will confront stalwart Socialist Benoît Hamon in the country’s left-wing presidential primary runoff next week.
Hamon, a former government minister, was leading Sunday with 36.12 percent followed by Valls with 31.24 percent, based on about half of the vote count, according to the results published on the Socialist primary website.
Whoever wins the Jan. 29 primary runoff will face the April-May presidential election battling more popular candidates from the far right to the far left riding frustration with immigration and economic stagnation.
Tough-talking, center-leaning Valls jumped in the presidential race in December a few days after President François Hollande declined to seek re-election —acknowledging his personal unpopularity would lead his Socialist party to defeat in the presidential battle.
Somber but combative, Valls called for left-wing voters to rally behind him as a bulwark against the French far right and “the America of Donald Trump, the Russia of Vladimir Putin.”
Valls, 54, a Spanish immigrant who calls himself “deeply European,” has rallied against populism even as polls show rising support for anti-immigration, anti-EU sentiment.
He criticized Hamon’s pledges to pay a universal income as a massive budget burden that diminishes the value of work, and promised to continue reforms to adapt leftist ideas to the 21st-century economy.
Valls has faced fierce attacks from harder-left rivals who associate him with Hollande’s unpopular moves to relax labor protections to encourage hiring.
He argues that he has the experience that France’s next leader will need as the country is facing the threat of extremist attacks, and to revitalize a lagging economy.
Hamon, 49, is a lower-profile politician yet he gained popularity in recent years by leading a group of rebel Socialist lawmakers who opposed Valls.
A former junior minister and education minister, he left the government in 2014 after he expressed disagreement with Valls’ pro-business policies.
He is pledging to push for the introduction of a 750-euro ($800) “universal income” living allowance for all adults in the country. Hamon is also promising to tax robots, legalize cannabis and repeal labor measures passed by Valls.