Disappointment in Juppe's camp after French presidential primary defeat

Record ID: 77194

  • Title: Disappointment in Juppe's camp after French presidential primary defeat
  • Date: 27th November 2016
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (NOVEMBER 27, 2016) (REUTERS) SUPPORTERS OF DEFEATED PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL, ALAIN JUPPE, AND MEDIA GATHERED BEFORE ANNOUNCEMENT OF PRIMARY ELECTION RESULTS SIGN FOR JUPPE'S CAMPAIGN (FROM LEFT) MEMBER OF JUPPE'S SUPPORT COMMITTEE IN MARSEILLE, NOURDINE AZOUK, LAWYER AND JUPPE SUPPORTER, KHEIRA, AND MARSEILLE OFFICIAL, PATRICK THEVENIN, LISTENING TO ANNOUNCEMENT OF RESULTS VARIOUS OF WAITERS SERVING DRINKS (SOUNDBITE) (French) MEMBER OF JUPPE'S SUPPORT COMMITTEE IN MARSEILLE, NOURDINE AZOUK, SAYING: "The right has chosen its candidate so now we'll have to get behind him and he'll also have to send out a unifying message." (SOUNDBITE) (French) LAWYER AND JUPPE SUPPORTER, KHEIRA, SAYING: "I thought that because there voters who had turned out for this second round, I thought people really went out there to counter Francois Fillon and make Alain Juppe win but in the end that's not what happened. So now I suppose it's really a vote of support, people really supported Francois Fillon's vision and programme, which I really do not share at all." WAITER SERVING DRINKS AT BUFFET (SOUNDBITE) (French) MARSEILLE OFFICIAL, PATRICK THEVENIN, SAYING: "My first thoughts are that we led a great electoral campaign. We can't deny that apparently Mr. Fillon is ahead, well in the lead -- the only thing I regret is that our centrist values which I represent, won't find their place in Mr. Fillon." JUPPE'S SUPPORTERS GATHERED 18-YEAR-OLD LAW STUDENT AND JUPPE SUPPORTER, GABRIEL, SPEAKING TO REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (French) 18-YEAR-OLD LAW STUDENT AND JUPPE SUPPORTER, GABRIEL, SAYING: "We're very disappointed but we remain convinced that this image of a progressive right, and not idealistic or progressive in the sense of soft, managed to appeal to some French people, because 39 percent is not a bad score that's for sure." SUPPORTERS GATHERED IN HALL
  • Embargoed: 12th December 2016 21:22
  • Keywords: Francois Fillon Alain Juppe presidential primary Les Republicains conservative right-wing
  • Location: PARIS, FRANCE
  • City: PARIS, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
  • Reuters ID: LVA0015A7YVRB
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Disappointed backers of defeated French presidential hopeful Alain Juppe said on Sunday (November 27) that they were proud of the centrist campaign he had run, while many promised to rally behind Francois Fillon -- the party's new candidate for the presidency.
    With votes from four-fifths of 10,228 polling stations counted, Fillon, who went into Sunday's second-round run-off as firm favourite, had won over 67 percent of the vote in a head-to-head battle with Juppe.
    "The right has chosen its candidate so now we'll have to get behind him and he'll also have to send out a unifying message," Nourdine Azouk, a member of Juppe's support committee in the southern city of Marseille, said.
    The second round had enjoyed an ever higher turnout than the first, which Juppe supporter Kheira had interpreted as a good sign.
    "I thought people really went out there to counter Francois Fillon and make Alain Juppe win but in the end that's not what happened. So now I suppose it's really a vote of support, people really supported Francois Fillon's vision and programme, which I really do not share at all," she said.
    "The only thing I regret is that our centrist values which I represent, won't find their place in Mr Fillon," Patrick Thevenin, an official in Marseille, said.
    Fillon, 62, came from behind in opinion polls over the past two weeks.
    In last week's first round Les Republicains party primary he knocked out former president Nicolas Sarkozy, under whom he served as prime minister from 2007 to 2012, and pushed Juppe into second place.
    He outflanked Juppe and Sarkozy after a campaign in which Juppe emerged looking soft and pandering to the left, and Sarkozy's rhetoric steered too close to extremism for some.
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