France’s governing Socialist Party will choose between Benoit Hamon and ex-prime minister Manuel Valls for its presidential candidate after five other contenders were eliminated in the first-round of the party’s primary contest on Sunday. But they also show that a victory for Hamon in next Sunday's decisive Socialist primaries second round runoff against Valls could expose the centre ground to which Valls hopes to appeal, and thereby boost the presidential prospects of independent centrist Emmanuel Macron. However, with former Socialist and now centrist Emmanuel Macron polling well in third place overall, closing in on Ms Le Pen and Mr Fillon, and leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon also outperforming the Socialists there could still be a left wing presence in the second round if enough voters coalesce behind one candidate in the first round on April 23.
Benoît Hamon wins the first round of voting and will now face runner-up former Prime Minister of France Manuel Valls in a second round run-off on January 29.