Partial results suggest that Manuel Valls, a center-leaning former prime minister who rallied France together after extremist attacks, will confront stalwart Socialist Benoit Hamon in the country's left-wing presidential primary runoff next week.

Hamon, a former government minister, was leading with 35.2 percent followed by Valls with 31.6 percent, based on more than one-third of the vote count, organizers of Sunday's first round of primary voting said.

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 few days after Socialist President Francois Hollande declined to seek re-election —acknowledging his personal unpopularity would lead his Socialist party to defeat in the presidential battle.

Valls, 54, 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.

The Spanish-born politician, naturalized French at the age of 20, is promising to decrease taxes for modest and middle-class households and to boost police and defense.

Hamon, 49, is a lower-profile politician yet he gained popularity 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.

The competition promises to be tough for the Socialist nominee in the race for the two-round presidential election on April 23 and May 7.

Polls show more support for conservative candidate Francois Fillon and National Front leader Le Pen.

The left also faces a growing challenge from centrist Emmanuel Macron, 39, a former investment banker who led Hollande's reforms as economy minister, but refused to take part in the Socialist primary.

Far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon is drawing voters away from the establishment Socialists, too.

Overshadowing the Socialist voting is the nationalist sentiment that helped fuel Donald Trump's successful campaign for the U.S. presidency and in several countries around Europe.

Le Pen and other European far-right leaders came together Saturday in Germany in a show of strength before multiple European elections this year.</s>PARIS (Reuters) - Benoit Hamon, a former Socialist government rebel won the first round of a primary on Sunday and will meet ex-prime minister Manuel Valls in a runoff to decide who will be the candidate of the beleaguered left in a presidential election in spring.

Hamon, 48, a traditional leftwinger who was sacked from government by President Francois Hollande for criticizing his economic policies, coasted to a comfortable win ahead of Valls, a former Hollande loyalist in government, according to partial results.

With the field now whittled down from seven candidates to two and Valls and Hamon set to meet mid-week for what could be a testy televised debate, the final outcome was hard to predict.

But former economy minister Arnaud Montebourg, who trailed in third place, gave Hamon, a party ally on the left, an advantage by criticizing Valls’s pro-business policies and urging his supporters to vote for Hamon next Sunday.

Either way, opinion polls indicate that no Socialist candidate has much chance of getting beyond the first round of the election in April-May after five years of unpopular rule by Hollande.

The Socialist party, for decades one of the main political forces in France, has become marginalized as Hollande failed to bring high unemployment down and alienated left-wing voters with his economic policies.

But the Socialists’ final choice on January 29 could have an impact on the election fortunes of the front-runners for the Elysee - conservative Francois Fillon, far-right leader Marine Le Pen and popular independent Emmanuel Macron.

Polls indicate Fillon, a former prime minister who has The Republicans ticket, is most likely to win if he is pitted against National Front leader Le Pen in a May 7 head-to-head.

But Macron, a 39-year-old former banker and one-time economy minister who pushes a centrist agenda and tries to appeal to both left and Right is attracting large crowds to rallies and could yet upset the balance.

Manuel Valls, former French Prime Minister and candidate in the left's first-round presidential primaries, attends a political rally as he campaigns in Paris, France, January 20, 2017. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

CENTRE-GROUND BATTLE

The Spanish-born Valls, who implemented pro-business policies under Hollande to the consernation of the traditional left-wing, appeals to a more moderate electorate and will pose a greater challenge to Macron for the center ground.

Conversely, political commentators say a traditional Socialist such as Hamon, who wants to legalize cannabis and establish a basic state income level of 600 euros per month for all adults, will benefit Macron in his campaign.

“I can see the first bricks with which we can reconstruct the left and reunite the left and then also rebuild hope and share this with the people of France,” Hamon said in a short address to his supporters after the result.

Valls, 54, in combative mood, suggested that Hamon stood no chance of pulling off victory in spring and that he alone would be able to turn the tide against the odds.

“We face a choice now between certain defeat and possible victory, between unrealistic promises that cannot be financed and a credible left that can bear responsibilities,” Valls said, referring to Hamon’s proposal on basic income.

Partial results showed that with half the vote counted, Hamon had won 35.2 percent and Valls about 31 percent. Montebourg had about 18 percent.

Calling on his supporters to vote for Hamon next Sunday, Montebourg said: “Voters massively and seriously rejected those who carried out free-market, austerity policies during the presidential term.”

Hamon and Montebourg were kicked out of Valls’s government in 2014 for criticizing economic policies which they said were too business-friendly.

Slideshow (2 Images)

The program of Fillon, seen as the election front-runner, includes cutting business taxes, relaxing labor laws and scrapping the 35-hour working week in an attempt to boost growth, while also eliminating half a million public sector jobs as part of a drive to shrink the state sector.

Anyone who pledged allegiance to the political values of the left and paid a one euro fee were able to vote in the primary. Organizers of the primary said there had been a turnout close to two million.</s>Benoit Hamon, a former Socialist education minister on the left of the party, led in the first round of a primary to pick a Socialist presidential candidate on Sunday, with more moderate ex-prime minister Manuel Valls in second place, partial results showed. Hamon, 48, who was sacked under the government of President Francois Hollande for criticizing his economic policies, had won 35.2 percent of the vote and Valls about 31 percent with just over a third of the total votes counted.

Start the conversation, or Read more at Reuters.</s>Benoît Hamon and Manuel Valls on Sunday advanced to the second round of France’s left-wing primary, setting up a battle for who will represent the ruling Socialists in the upcoming presidential election, but also for the soul of their party.

Hamon, 49, delivered the latest unexpected turn to a presidential race already full of surprises when he finished a decisive first on Sunday evening. The one-time underdog claimed more than 36 percent of all votes cast in the first round of the primary organized by the Socialist Party, but that also included allied, micro-parties.

In one week, he will face off against Manuel Valls, a former prime minister who was long touted as the frontrunner of the primary, but who nevertheless managed to save face by winning around 31 percent support and make it into the run-off.

“Left-wing constituents voted with their hearts and have not given up,” Hamon, a former education minister and admirer of US Senator Bernie Sanders, said in a victory speech as his campaign’s headquarters in Paris.

His triumph at the ballot box was then sweetened by an endorsement by primary rival Arnaud Montebourg, who came in third place with around 18 percent of votes.

Speaking to supporters late on Sunday, Valls described the upcoming duel as a simple choice between “certain defeat” in the presidential election if Hamon is chosen, and “possible victory” if he is picked as the Socialist’s nominee.

Vincent Peillon, who came in fourth place with around 7 percent of votes, also addressed the press following the primary results, but refused to back either Hamon or Valls.

“Clearly this is going to be major choice for the Socialist Party,” said FRANCE 24 politics editor Marc Perelman, noting that Hamon and Valls represent extreme opposites within the political camp.

Valls, 54, has angered many left-wing sympathisers by championing pro-market economic policies alongside President François Hollande, while approving a state of emergency restricting civil liberties after a series of terrorist attacks.

Hamon and Montebourg are among a list of former ministers who quit Hollande’s government in protest over the pro-business turn.

Hamon – who supports implementing a universal basic income and shortening the work week from 35 to 32 hours – addressed this rift directly as he proclaimed victory on Sunday. “By putting me in the lead, you have sent a clear message of hope and renewal, the desire to write a new chapter for the left in France,” he said.

“Not that long ago Valls said that there were two lefts that could no longer be reconciled,” Perelman reminded. “But those two lefts will be face to face next Sunday. The question for Socialists is does the party go with Valls and towards the centre, or with Hamon and move to the left?”

Around 2 million people participated in Sunday’s left-wing primary, which was open to any eligible French voter or Socialist Party member who was willing to part with 1 euro.

While turnout might have exceeded the 1.5-million target set by Socialist Party organisers, it was still less than half of the 4.3 million people who cast ballots in France’s conservative primary in November.

Experts said it would prove difficult for either Hamon or Valls to pivot to the general election, after five years of Socialist rule marked by fears of rising immigration and by the failure to significantly lower unemployment.

“Tomorrow the Socialist Party chiefs are going to congratulate themselves on the great turnout, because no one would have predicted they would get that many voters just yesterday,” Cecile Alduy, an associate professor at Stanford University, told FRANCE 24.

“At the same time, 2 million people is not that much, and also it's people who are extremely politicised and on the left. Down the road, the Socialists are going to go against a much bigger electorate that is not going to be sensitive to the same kinds of arguments,” she added.

Indeed, polls show the mainstream left is not expected to perform well in France’s presidential and parliamentary elections this upcoming spring.

Whoever wins the left-wing primary is expected to finish in only fifth place in the race for the Elysée Palace.

Opinions polls reveal Hamon or Valls would lose to conservative nominee François Fillon, but also far-right leader Marine Le Pen, radical-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon and independent centrist Emmanuel Macron.

“We must now amplify the movement… strengthen it even more,” Hamon said on Sunday, hoping the primary will help infuse what has been announced as a fated presidential campaign with fresh momentum.

He and Valls will face off in a last televised debate on Wednesday, before the second round poll on January 29.</s>PARIS (AP) — France's presidential hopeful Manuel Valls, who seeks the Socialist nomination, has pledged to tax U.S. imports if President Donald Trump pulls his country out of the global climate deal reached in Paris in 2015.

Valls proposed a carbon tax on American goods while speaking Monday on RTL radio. He said: "When Donald Trump declares some kind of economic war on Europe, we must be ready."

Valls, a former prime minister, is facing ex-government member Benoit Hamon in the country's Socialist presidential primary runoff Sunday.

Candidate for the French left's presidential primaries ahead of the 2017 presidential election and former Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, addresses his supporters at his headquarters in Paris, France, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2017. Partial results suggest that Manuel Valls, a center-leaning former prime minister who rallied France together after extremist attacks, will confront stalwart Socialist Benoit Hamon in the country's left-wing presidential primary runoff next week. (AP Photo/Zacharie Scheurer)

Hamon said environmental and climate issues are among his priorities.

During his campaign, Trump suggested he was keeping an open mind about climate change and about whether he'll pull the U.S. out of the global emissions-cutting deal struck in Paris.

Candidate for the French left's presidential primaries ahead of the 2017 presidential election and former Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, waves after addressing his supporters at his headquarters in Paris, France, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2017. Partial results suggest that Manuel Valls, a center-leaning former prime minister who rallied France together after extremist attacks, will confront stalwart Socialist Benoit Hamon in the country's left-wing presidential primary runoff next week. (AP Photo/Zacharie Scheurer)

Candidate for the French left's presidential primaries ahead of the 2017 presidential election, Benoit Hamon, gives thumbs up while addressing his supporters at his headquarters in Paris, France, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2017. Partial results suggest that Manuel Valls, a center-leaning former prime minister who rallied France together after extremist attacks, will confront stalwart Socialist Benoit Hamon in the country's left-wing presidential primary runoff next week. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnnioglu)

Candidate for the French left's presidential primaries ahead of the 2017 presidential election, Benoit Hamon, addresses his supporters at his headquarters in Paris, France, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2017. Partial results suggest that Manuel Valls, a center-leaning former prime minister who rallied France together after extremist attacks, will confront stalwart Socialist Benoit Hamon in the country's left-wing presidential primary runoff next week. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnnioglu)</s>Paris, Jan 22 (IANS) The first round of France’s Left primary kicked off on Sunday morning with the competition to be a three-horse race among former Prime Minister Manuel Valls and his main rivals Arnaund Montebourg and Benoit Hamon, both former ministers in his government in 2014.

About two million voters are expected to cast their ballots in 7,530 poll stations across the country from 9.00 to 19.00 (local time) to pick a presidential nominee, Xinhua news agency reported.

Valls, a centrist politician, who is seeking to attract middle ground voters, has been the polls’ favourite to snatch the left ticket. However, the race is tightening in its final days.

Montebourg and Hamon who quit the government to protest their pro-liberal policy, are gaining momentum days before the vote. The three leading candidates are almost neck-and-neck with the result remaining unpredictable.

A recent poll showed Valls coming the first in the first round with 32 per cent of the vote against Hamon’s 27 per cent and Montebourg’s 26 per cent.

Two of the seven contenders who will garner the highest vote in the first round will meet in a head-to-head context next Sunday.

Casting his ballot in Every, southeastern Paris, Valls called on the French people to massively turn to poll stations. “It is the French who must decide.”

Montebourg, a former economy minister, said before casting his ballot that he asked for a “strong mandate to be able to bring the Left together”.

Hamon, who’s gaining momentum unexpectedly, also called for a high turnout of voters, saying “if the turnout is high, it will give legitimacy to the one who will be elected”.

The Socialists and the broader Left, which has dominated France’s political landscape for decades, was weakened due to high unemployment and rising security concerns in the five years in power.</s>PARIS, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Benoit Hamon, a former Socialist education minister on the left of the party, led in the first round of a primary to pick a Socialist presidential candidate on Sunday, with more moderate ex-prime minister Manuel Valls in second place, partial results showed.

Hamon, 48, who was sacked under the government of President Francois Hollande for criticising his economic policies, had won 35.2 percent of the vote and Valls about 31 percent with just over a third of the total votes counted.

If the final count confirms this result, the two men will go face-to-face in a Jan. 29 runoff to decide who will be the Socialist candidate in the April-May presidential election.</s>PARIS—Candidates from opposing wings of France’s Socialist Party emerged as the top two vote-getters in the first round of the country’s leftist primary, marking the deep divisions hobbling the party’s attempt to select a credible successor to President François Hollande.

Benoît Hamon, a lawmaker who hails from the left of the Socialist party and who has centered his campaign on a plan to create a universal basic income, took the...</s>Paris, Jan 23 (IANS) About 1 million left-wing French voters on Sunday headed to polling stations to cast ballots in a presidential primary, organisers said.

Based on account of 70 per cent of 7,534 polling sites, one million had voted by 5.00 p.m. (1600 GMT) against 1.5 million at the same time in the first round in 2011, Xinhua news agency reported.

Seven candidates are competing to win the conservative ticket to challenge for the upcoming two-round French presidential election scheduled for April 23 and May 7.

According to pollsters, the primary will be a three-horse race among former Prime Minister Manuel Valls and his main rivals Arnaund Montebourg and Benoit Hamon, both former ministers in his government in 2014.

Marred by record low popularity of the Socialist President Francois Hollande and growing public discontent over the government’s controversial reforms, no left-wing candidate will pass to presidential run-off, pollsters said.

The top two winners of the first round of the primary will compete in the second round of the primary next Sunday, unless one of the seven contenders collects more than 50 per cent of the votes in the first round and will directly be nominated as the presidential candidate.

The primary is the second such competition held by the Socialist Party and allies. In 2011, the Socialist Party had opened a two-round contest to all registered voters regardless their political view as long as they share the left-wing values and donate 1 euro ($1.069).</s>PARIS (Reuters) - Benoit Hamon, a former Socialist government rebel won the first round of a primary on Sunday and will meet ex-prime minister Manuel Valls in a runoff to decide who will be the candidate of the beleaguered left in a presidential election in spring.

Hamon, 48, a traditional leftwinger who was sacked from government by President Francois Hollande for criticizing his economic policies, coasted to a comfortable win ahead of Valls, a former Hollande loyalist in government, according to partial results.

With the field now whittled down from seven candidates to two and Valls and Hamon set to meet mid-week for what could be a testy televised debate, the final outcome was hard to predict.

But former economy minister Arnaud Montebourg, who trailed in third place, gave Hamon, a party ally on the left, an advantage by criticizing Valls's pro-business policies and urging his supporters to vote for Hamon next Sunday.

Either way, opinion polls indicate that no Socialist candidate has much chance of getting beyond the first round of the election in April-May after five years of unpopular rule by Hollande.

The Socialist party, for decades one of the main political forces in France, has become marginalized as Hollande failed to bring high unemployment down and alienated left-wing voters with his economic policies.

But the Socialists' final choice on January 29 could have an impact on the election fortunes of the front-runners for the Elysee - conservative Francois Fillon, far-right leader Marine Le Pen and popular independent Emmanuel Macron.

Polls indicate Fillon, a former prime minister who has The Republicans ticket, is most likely to win if he is pitted against National Front leader Le Pen in a May 7 head-to-head.

But Macron, a 39-year-old former banker and one-time economy minister who pushes a centrist agenda and tries to appeal to both left and Right is attracting large crowds to rallies and could yet upset the balance.

The Spanish-born Valls, who implemented pro-business policies under Hollande to the consernation of the traditional left-wing, appeals to a more moderate electorate and will pose a greater challenge to Macron for the center ground.

Conversely, political commentators say a traditional Socialist such as Hamon, who wants to legalize cannabis and establish a basic state income level of 600 euros per month for all adults, will benefit Macron in his campaign.

"I can see the first bricks with which we can reconstruct the left and reunite the left and then also rebuild hope and share this with the people of France," Hamon said in a short address to his supporters after the result.

Valls, 54, in combative mood, suggested that Hamon stood no chance of pulling off victory in spring and that he alone would be able to turn the tide against the odds.

"We face a choice now between certain defeat and possible victory, between unrealistic promises that cannot be financed and a credible left that can bear responsibilities," Valls said, referring to Hamon's proposal on basic income.

Partial results showed that with half the vote counted, Hamon had won 35.2 percent and Valls about 31 percent. Montebourg had about 18 percent.

Calling on his supporters to vote for Hamon next Sunday, Montebourg said: "Voters massively and seriously rejected those who carried out free-market, austerity policies during the presidential term."

Hamon and Montebourg were kicked out of Valls's government in 2014 for criticizing economic policies which they said were too business-friendly.

The program of Fillon, seen as the election front-runner, includes cutting business taxes, relaxing labor laws and scrapping the 35-hour working week in an attempt to boost growth, while also eliminating half a million public sector jobs as part of a drive to shrink the state sector.

Anyone who pledged allegiance to the political values of the left and paid a one euro fee were able to vote in the primary. Organizers of the primary said there had been a turnout close to two million.
Voting takes place in the first round of the French Socialist Party presidential primary to select a candidate to run in this year's presidential election.