Benoît Hamon Wins French Socialist Party’s Presidential Nomination
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Version 0 of 1. PARIS — France chose an idealistic, traditional left-leaning candidate in Sunday’s primary to represent the Socialist and center-left parties in the presidential election this spring. The candidate, Benoît Hamon, 49, who ran on the slogan that he would “make France’s heart beat,” bested Manuel Valls, the former prime minister, whose campaign has promoted more free-market policies and who has a strong law-and-order background. Mr. Hamon appeared to have won by a wide margin, with incomplete returns showing him with an estimated 58 percent of the vote to Mr. Valls’s 41 percent. “Tonight the left holds its head up high again; it is looking to the future,” Mr. Hamon said, addressing his supporters. “Our country needs the left, but a modern, innovative left,” he said. Mr. Hamon’s victory was the clearest sign yet that voters on the left want a break with the policies of President François Hollande, who in December announced that he would not seek re-election. However, Mr. Hamon’s strong showing is unlikely to change widespread assessments that left-leaning candidates have little chance of making it into the second round of voting in the general election. The first round of the general election is set for April 23 and the runoff for May 7. The Socialist Party is deeply divided, and one measure of its lack of popular enthusiasm was the relatively low number of people voting. About two million people voted in the second round of the primary on Sunday, in contrast with about 2.9 million in the second round of the last presidential primary on the left, in 2011. However, much of the conventional wisdom over how the elections will go has been thrown into question over the past week, because the leading candidate, François Fillon, who represents the main right-wing party, the Republicans, was accused of paying his wife large sums of money to work as his parliamentary aide. While nepotism is legal in the French political system, it is not clear that she actually did any work. Prosecutors who specialize in financial malfeasance are reviewing the case. France’s electoral system allows multiple candidates to run for president in the first round of voting, but only the top two vote-getters go on to a second round. Mr. Hamon is entering a race that is already crowded on the left, with candidates who include Jean-Luc Mélenchon on the far left, and Emmanuel Macron, an independent who served as economy minister in Mr. Hollande’s government and who embraces more free-market policies. Unless he decides to withdraw, Mr. Fillon, the mainstream right candidate, will also run, as will the extreme right candidate Marine Le Pen. The two have been expected to go to the runoff. Mr. Hamon’s victory can be attributed at least in part to his image as an idealist and traditional leftist candidate who appeals to union voters as well as more environmentally concerned and socially liberal young people. Unlike Mr. Valls, he also clearly distanced himself from some of Mr. Hollande’s more unpopular policies, especially the economic ones. Thomas Kekenbosch, 22, a student and one of the leaders of the group the Youth With Benoît Hamon, said Mr. Hamon embodied a new hope for those on the left. “We have a perspective; we have something to do, to build,” Mr. Kekenbosch said. Mr. Hollande had disappointed many young people because under him the party abandoned ideals, such as support for workers, that many left-leaning voters believe in, according to Mr. Kekenbosch. Mr. Hollande’s government, under pressure from the European Union to meet budget restraints, struggled to pass labor code reforms to make the market more attractive to foreign investors and also to encourage French businesses to expand in France. The measures ultimately passed after weeks of strikes, but they were watered down and generated little concrete progress in improving France’s roughly 10 percent unemployment rate and its nearly 25 percent youth joblessness rate. Mr. Hamon strongly endorses a stimulus approach to improving the economy and has promised to phase in a universal income, which would especially help young people looking for work, but would also supplement the livelihood of low-paid French workers. The end goal would be to have everyone receive 750 euros per month (about $840). “We have someone that trusts us,” Mr. Kekenbosch said, “who says: ‘I give you enough to pay for your studies. You can have a scholarship which spares you from working at McDonald’s on provisional contracts for 4 years.” Mr. Hamon advocates phasing out diesel fuel and encouraging drivers to replace vehicles that use petroleum products with electrical ones. His leftist pedigree began early. His father worked at an arsenal in Brest, a city in the far west of Brittany, and his mother worked off and on as a secretary. He was an early member of the Movement of Young Socialists, and he has continued to work closely with them through his political life. He also worked for Martine Aubry, now the mayor of Lille and a former Socialist Party leader. |