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France's Valls on offensive to rally support before primary decisive round

Xinhua, January 25, 2017 Adjust font size:

Since his bid to represent the Socialist Party in the presidential election stumbled after Sunday's vote, Manuel Valls, the former French prime minister, has been on the offensive to regain the top spot he lost days before the two-round competition kicked off.

A few days ahead the primary's decisive round, Valls lashed out at his rival Benoit Hamon, the former education minister, over his "unrealistic" plan which would "create disillusionment."

Meanwhile he promoted his proposition, saying "I'm proposing a society of work, reduced tax on overtime work, commitment to boost employment, support for companies' competitiveness."

On Sunday, the primary's first round of votes placed former education minister Hamon as the front-runner to win the party's nomination to join the presidential race with 36.3 percent of the vote against Valls' 31.1 percent.

After the results were released, the former prime minister said the choice between Hamon and himself was one of "certain defeat and possible victory" in the presidential election.

The two men represent two wings of the Socialist Party with Valls, a centrist holding a pro-market policy stance, and Hamon, a traditional Socialist hoping to establish a monthly basic state income for all adults and legalize cannabis.

"The Left has never been faced with such a clear choice," Valls said.

Valls, a security hardliner and advocate of pro-business ideas, has been the favourite in the polls to win the left ticket and challenge the conservative candidate Francois Fillon and Marine Le Pen, head of the far-right National Front (FN) in 2017 presidential election.

However, he began losing momentum after three televised debates that offered a boost to Hamon.

"I'm the one targeted in this campaign, of course, because I was responsible, because I had to make tough decisions when I was interior minister and prime minister," Valls said in a recent interview.

To Yves-Marie Cann, director of political studies at communication agency Elabe, Valls lost ground because he failed to "manage the transition between his post as prime minister and being a candidate for the left primary."

"He is paying for decisions he made when he was prime minister. He has difficulty in convincing voters mainly because of the use of 49-3 decree to pass the labor reform that the left considered incompatible with how the Socialist Party should govern," he told Xinhua.

On Sunday, Valls will meet Hamon in a head-to-head contest that the former education minister is likely to pass with a strong lead thanks to the backing of defeated candidates including former economy minister Arnaud Montebourg.

"Benoit Hamon is creating a dynamism. The voters voted for his political ideas and for the future of the party more than for a presidential candidate," Adelaide Zulfikarpasic, BVA pollster director told Ouest-France newspaper.

"He embodies the strong will of the Socialists to break with (Francois Hollande's) mandate and to carry out innovative projects," she added. Endit