France’s Prime Minister Manuel Valls has resigned to declare himself a candidate for the presidency in an attempt to save the Socialist Party from a humiliating exit from elections next spring. Valls, 54, a reformist, launched his bid to win party primaries just four days after Francois Hollande announced he would not seek re-election next May.
Speaking in Evry on Monday, the gritty Paris suburb where he has served as mayor, he said: “Yes, I’m a candidate for the presidency. I will leave my post [of prime minister] tomorrow [Tuesday].” Valls, who served as Prime Minister for two years, hopes to prevent Leftist former cabinet rebels, notably Arnaud Montebourg, the self-styled champion of “Le Made in France”, from winning the candidacy next month. Valls — a father of four who is married to Anne Gravoin, a concert violinist who was present with him at Evry town hall on Monday, where the pair were wed — is likely to narrowly win the party nomination against a field of seven candidates, polls suggest.
But no left-winger — Valls included — is expected to reach round two of France’s presidential election, which, according to current voter intentions, will see mainstream right-winger Francois Fillon face Marine Le Pen, head of the far-Right Front National. While Fillon is a runaway favourite, after Sunday’s Italian referendum defeat for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in the wake of Brexit and Republican Donald Trump’s surprise presidential election win the United States, no one is ruling out a Le Pen victory.
Posing himself as the Left’s saviour, Valls said: “I am deeply revolted by the idea that the Left could be disqualified from this presidential election and I want us to make this revolt our own.” He said he wished to avoid a repeat of the “trauma” of 2002 that saw the far-right reach the second round of presidential elections. “Today it is at the gates of power,” he warned.
As for Fillon, Valls said his programme to shrink the state and raise working hours harked “back to the 1980s”. “What it presents as progress is a step backwards for society as a whole.” Should he win the primary, Valls faces a tussle for left-wing votes with two independent candidates — Emmanuel Macron, Hollande’s popular, reform-minded ex-economy minister, and Jean-Luc Melenchon, a charismatic hard-left firebrand.
Like Hollande, Valls has seen his approval ratings slide — but not quite as badly as his former boss, who is now on around four per cent approval. He must now win over left-wingers suspicious of his pro-business stance and strident views on law and order and Islam.
In August, he had blasted the burkini, the body-covering swimsuit, as a “provocation”. Valls has promised to “defend the legacy” of the unpopular Hollande, who, critics say, he pushed into throwing in the towel, Brutus-style, only days ago.
— The Telegraph Group Limited, London, 2016
Henry Samuel is the Telegraph’s France correspondent.
