Voters want to see French Prime Minister Manuel Valls secure the Socialist Party ticket to run for presidential election next year, an opinion poll showed yesterday, hours after French President Francois Hollande announced that he would not seek a second term.
Hollande announced on Thursday night that he would not seek re-election in April, bowing to historic low approval ratings.
“I have decided that I will not be a candidate,” the 62-year-old Hollande said in a solemn televised address from the Elysee Palace in Paris.
Photo: AFP
The president conceded he had failed to rally his deeply divided Socialist Party behind his candidacy and keep a promise to slash unemployment, which hovers at around one in 10 of the workforce.
“In the months to come, my only duty will be to continue to lead my country,” he said.
His dramatic decision leaves the leftwing field open in an election that is proving increasingly unpredictable.
Valls broadly shares the pro-business leaning that prompted many left-wing voters to turn their back on Socialist Hollande after voting him into power in 2012.
The flash poll, conducted by Harris Interactive after Hollande’s announcement showed a majority of respondents want to see Valls win a primary the Socialist Party will hold next month.
He was the preferred candidate of 24 percent of respondents, versus 14 percent who want to see left-wing firebrand rival Arnaud Montebourg, a former economics minister, win.
Six other candidates were offered as choices, and 47 percent of people said they did not want any of the eight.
Among respondents who considered themselves sympathizers with the left, Valls was again the most popular, on 33 percent versus 20 for Montebourg.
Among Socialist party respondents, the score was 57 percent for Valls versus 15 percent for Montebourg.
A poll on Wednesday predicted that Hollande would win just 7 percent of votes in the first round of next year’s election — strengthening Socialist Party critics who view him as a lame duck.
Voter surveys currently tip rightwing Republicans party candidate Francois Fillon to win the election, with the far-right National Front candidate Marine Le Pen seen as the closest challenger.
However, the full range of candidates is unknown and the role of independents such as 38-year-old former economics minister Emmanuel Macron are difficult to predict.
The emergence of Fillon threw up a surprise in itself. At the start of the rightwing primary, he was considered a distant third, only to roar through the field and win comfortably.
The Socialists on Thursday began accepting candidates for its primaries, scheduled to be held on Jan. 22 and 29. The presidential election is due on April 23, with a runoff on May 7.
Valls spoke out against Hollande in October after the publication of a devastating book called A President Shouldn’t Say That featuring interviews with the president. The best-seller was the last straw for many loyalists, for Hollande was seen as sniping at judges, the national football team and even his own government’s policies.
However, Valls praised Hollande’s Thursday announcement as “the choice of a true statesman,” while French Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development Jean-Marc Ayrault said it was a “dignified and courageous decision.”
The media was less forgiving, with front page headlines proclaiming “The end,” “Goodbye, president” and “Hollande gives up.”
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