Roundup: French presidential candidate Hamon calls on left to unite behind him

French presidential candidate Benoit Hamon called on voters of the Left to unite behind him after former French prime minister Manuel Valls, who had committed previously to backing the winner of the leftwing primaries, announced Wednesday that he would vote for Emmanuel Macron in the first round of voting.

Confronted by numerous defections within the ranks, scoring low in polls, and overwhelmed by the "betrayal" of his rival in the primaries Valls, the socialist party candidate launched a "solemn appeal" Wednesday to the voters of the left.

"The left, to win, must assemble itself and I call for it to do so now. I call on all voters, those who are committed to the struggle against injustice, I call on the social-democrats intimately attached to social progress and democracy, but also the Communist Party, the communists and Pierre Laurent, the 'unsubmissives' and Jean-Luc Melenchon, to join forces with mine," Hamon told the press at his campaign headquarters.

The candidate for the Socialist Party also asked voters on the left to "punish those who lend themselves to this morbid game," making allusions to the declarations of Valls.

Valls, who had not spoken publicly since his January defeat in the primaries of the left, made his support official for the former economy minister and founder of the "En Marche!" political movement.

"I will vote for Emmanuel Macron. I take responsibility," he declared on BFMTV/RMC radio.

Minutes after the announcement of support from Valls, Emmanuel Macron said: "I thank him [but] I will be the guarantor of the renewal of faces, of the renewal of practices."

Valls, who had quit government last December to enter the race for the nomination of his party, explained that he "didn't want to take any risk for the Republic" while the polls indicate that extreme-right candidate Le Pen stands to make it to the second round of voting.

Valls He also evoked "the moral collapse of the candidacy of Francois Fillon," who, according to him, increases "the risk of victory" for Le Pen. In the case of a duel between the president of the National Front and the candidate for the Republicans, he nevertheless let it be understood that he would vote for Fillon. "Faced with the extreme-right, I always take responsibility," Valls insisted.

Valls also severely criticized "the failure of the strategy" of Hamon, nominee for the socialists after their primaries, believing it "led to marginalization."

The reactions were strong within the Hamon campaign following the defection of Valls. "From now on, everyone knows the worth of a commitment signed on the honor of a man like Valls: nothing," said former socialist minister Arnaud Montebourg, another candidate in the primaries.

Hamon's campaign is caught in the crossfire between the growing support for the "En Marche!" movement of Macron on his right, and Jean-Luc Melenchon of the "Unsubmissive France" who wishes to install himself as the only "true left" candidate.

As of now, Hamon has been classed behind Melenchon in the near-totality of opinion polls. It is to say that his call for unity does not come under the most auspicious of times, even if the leader of the Communist Party, Pierre Laurent, reiterated his availability for a meeting with Jean- Melenchon, Hamon, and Yannick Jadot "to create the conditions for a victory."

Many observers of French politics have qualified what they are calling an "explosion" within the Socialist Party. Endite