Sarkozy concedes loss in France presidential primary

A social conservative with economically liberal ideas, Fillon will face Alain Juppe, another ex-prime minister, in a runoff on November 27 which is likely to produce France’s next president in May.

– Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was surprisingly knocked out of the French elections this weekend.

Of the three, Sarkozy, 61, took the hardest line on immigration and Islam-related issues, in the hope of pulling votes from people attracted to Le Pen. But while around 90 per cent of any Left-wing and centrist votes would go to Mr Juppé, FN sympathisers were much more divided over who they would choose, it said.

“I failed to convince a majority of voters”, he said.

Mr Sarkozy dismissed Mr Fillon as an “employee” when he served as his prime minister from 2007 to 2012. Fillon will now face off with Alain Juppé for a second vote at the end of the month.

Mr Juppe was quick to cast himself as the best candidate to stop the far-right party and win the presidential election in the wake of the first primary result.

Mr Sarkozy, Mr Fillon and Mr Juppe had been expected to lead the balloting on Sunday.

Alain Juppe at his campaign headquarters in Paris.At stake is an nearly certain place in the second round of next spring’s presidential election, pollsters say, with the French left in turmoil under the deeply unpopular President Francois Hollande.

“I therefore do not fear a setback”, he told TF1 television.

Polls show both Juppe and Fillon would easily defeat the far-right leader but her rivals have warned that all bets are off in a country where the anti-elite sentiment that propelled Donald Trump to the White House is running high.

As the campaign for the second round gathered pace on Tuesday, the candidates exchanged barbs over Mr Fillon’s stance on abortion. The victor will compete in next year’s presidential election.

While French voters seemingly repudiated Sarkozy, analysts say the solid win by Fillon means there is a less of a chance of Le Pen being election – so the country may swing center-right, instead of far-right.

Prior to the final results, Sarkozy admitted defeat on Sunday, saying he would back Fillon in the event of a run-off vote.

Fillon especially attracted votes from those who took the streets in 2013 to protest against a law legalizing gay marriage.

Fillon, who politically hovers between the other two, was expected to be pushed into third place.

Many Socialist supporters who turned out are thought to have done so to block the former president.

On Brexit, he has called for a quick divorce and, remember, if he becomes President he’d be a key European Union leader in the negotiations with the UK.

Sunday’s turnout topped four million voters – a bigger showing than the 2.6 million who voted in the first round of the Socialist primaries in 2011.

“To some extent, we believe Fillon’s lead introduces additional uncertainty when it comes to the presidential election”, said Raphael Brun-Aguerre of JP Morgan in a research note.