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Juppe improves lead in upcoming right-wing parties primary: poll

Xinhua, October 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

Alain Juppe, former French foreign minister, remained the favorite to win the right-wing parties primary and improved the conservatives' chance to occupy the Elysee Palace in 2017, a poll showed on Thursday.

A Harris Interactive poll showed 39 percent of voters supported Juppe in the primary race while ex-head of state Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to garner 35 percent of the vote.

In September, the pollster showed the two contenders neck-and-neck on 37 percent.

Launching his campaign end-August, Juppe, 71, promised reforms to "bring hope" to the public and fight unemployment.

"I will never exploit fears or appeal to people's baser instincts. I want to bring hope," Juppe said during a rally outside Paris.

With France in a state of emergency following terror assaults, Juppe emphasized on national unity as "France, more than ever, needs to be united."

After a two-year break from politics, his rival Sarkozy returned to lead the conservative party then known as the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP).

There are five other candidates in two rounds of primaries scheduled for Nov. 20 and 27, including ex-premier Francois Fillon, former agriculture minister Bruno Le Maire, and ex-ecology minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet.

Jean-Francois Cope, former president of the conservative party UMP, and Jean-Frederic Poisson, the head of the Christian Democratic Party, will also compete in the primary.

The Nov. 20 primary is the first ever to be held by France's main right-wing party. Endit