FRANCE: Frontrunner to become the French Socialists' Presidential candidate, Francois Hollande, calls for a clean contest in the second round of voting

Record ID: 739608

  • Title: FRANCE: Frontrunner to become the French Socialists' Presidential candidate, Francois Hollande, calls for a clean contest in the second round of voting
  • Date: 11th October 2011
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (OCTOBER 10, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF JEROME SAINTE MARIE, HEAD OF OPINION AT CSA POLLING INSTITUTE
  • Embargoed: 26th October 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France, France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA266RLT2FCGWZMK3XH7WQ8XEJC
  • Story Text: Francois Hollande, the frontrunner for the Socialist nomination in this month's primary election to select a presidential candidate for the French Socialist party, on Monday (October 10) called for a clean contest with his opponent, former Socialist leader Martine Aubry.
    Speaking on RTL radio the morning after he secured 39 percent of the vote in first round of voting at the first U.S.-style primaries to be held by any party in France, Hollande said he expected to come out top in next week's second round.
    "There has to be a principle that should be one of sincerity, there has to be an exchange of ideas. That's normal in a second round of voting. But there also has to be respect," he said.
    More than two million people voted in the primary election to select a presidential candidate at the weekend which the Socialists say was inspired by the process that gave Barack Obama the momentum to take the White House.
    The Socialist Party published preliminary results showing Hollande in front with 39 percent of votes, short of an absolute majority and therefore headed for a runoff on Oct. 16.
    He will face Martine Aubry, a one-time labour minister and daughter of former European Commission president Jacques Delors, who won 31 percent in the preliminary readout.
    Opinion polls have predicted that Hollande, a witty if unexciting party veteran who has never been a government minister, would not only win the Socialist primary but would defeat Sarkozy by a comfortable margin if the two face off in the presidential battle next April. That would make him the first Socialist leader in the Elysee Palace for 17 years.
    "I hope to win this primary. And I think I'll win it. But not by a strong margin. I don't know what the final score will be. But from there, the aim is to bring people together for the second round -- and for afterwards. Because the primary is only a step. Then we have to win the elections,"
    Pollsters said the big winner of the first round of voting was the principle of primary elections themselves. The strong turnout at this weekend's poll would encourage other parties to implement the same kind of system.
    "The first thing to note is the turnout: two and a half million people voting, that's about 7.5 percent of those entitled to vote. It's considerable for a first truly open primary. It's a real success and it means that this is going to take root in French political life on the Left, on the right, at a national level and at a local level," said Jerome Sainte-Marie, head of studies at the CSA polling institute.
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