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| French PM Manuel Valls announces 2017 presidential bid | French PM Manuel Valls announces 2017 presidential bid |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| French Prime Minister Manuel Valls announced on Monday that he is running to become the Socialist candidate in the 2017 presidential election in France. | French Prime Minister Manuel Valls announced on Monday that he is running to become the Socialist candidate in the 2017 presidential election in France. |
| "I am a candidate for the presidency of the republic," Valls said at his headquarters in the Parisian suburb of Evry. | "I am a candidate for the presidency of the republic," Valls said at his headquarters in the Parisian suburb of Evry. |
| "I want to give everything for France," he stressed, adding that he “cannot be Prime Minister while being a candidate," he said. The 54-year-old Spanish-born prime minister announced that his government will resign on Tuesday. | |
| Valls wrote on Twitter that his candidacy “is also a revolt against the idea that the left is disqualified from this presidential election.” | Valls wrote on Twitter that his candidacy “is also a revolt against the idea that the left is disqualified from this presidential election.” |
| Speculations about Valls joining the race began last week after President Francois Hollande said that he will not be running for a second term. | Speculations about Valls joining the race began last week after President Francois Hollande said that he will not be running for a second term. |
| The French Socialist Party is to hold a two-round primary in January to choose its presidential candidate. | The French Socialist Party is to hold a two-round primary in January to choose its presidential candidate. |
| The first round of the French presidential vote is scheduled for April 23 next year with a run-off on May 7. | The first round of the French presidential vote is scheduled for April 23 next year with a run-off on May 7. |
| It is going to be hard race for the left after Hollande became the most unpopular French president in history, with an approval of just 4 percent in November. | |
| The president’s rating crumbled due to austerity, an influx of refugees, and deadly terror attacks on French soil, which authorities were unable to prevent. | |
| Polls currently suggest that Valls will likely win the Socialist primary, but would trail behind Marine Le Pen from the far-right National Front and Francois Fillon from the right-wing Republican party. |