France’s Fillon Seen Beating Le Pen in Presidential Election

Conceding defeat in front of chanting supporters, his rival Alain Juppe said he was “ending this campaign as (he) started it; a free man, who didn’t betray who he was or what he thought”. Woman at right is unidentified.

Opinion polls have for months forecast that the center-right candidate and Le Pen would qualify for the second round of the presidential election in May and that Le Pen would then lose.

The victor is expected to compete against National Front leader Marine Le Pen, who has enjoyed a surge in the polls, says The Independent, adding to “growing fears that the rise of global populism could see Ms Le Pen secure a surprise victory in the wake of the UK’s Brexit vote and Donald Trump’s U.S. election win”. A rise in nationalist sentiment across Europe may have favored his strict conservative positions over Juppe’s more centrist stance.

“This past presidential term has been pathetic”, Fillon said in criticizing Hollande.

Fillon campaigned on promises of slashing public spending, capping immigration, support for traditional family values and friendlier ties with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

With votes from almost all of the 10,229 polling stations counted, Fillon had won 66.5 percent of the votes in the primaries organised by the centre-right Les Republicains party. Le Pen, candidate of her National Front party, is running an anti-establishment campaign that particularly targets immigrants, France’s Muslim minority, and the European Union.

While the unpopular Hollande still hasn’t said whether he’ll seek re-election, Prime Minister Manuel Valls told French newspaper Journal du dimanche that he is ready to compete in the left-wing primary in January. He recently published a book called “Conquering Islamic Totalitarianism”.

Can Fillon keep far-right at bay? was posted in World of TheNews International – https://www.thenews.com.pk on November 29, 2016 and was last updated on November 29, 2016. He has also said he is opposed to abortion but would not change France’s laws that allow it.

The prime minister from 2007-12 has warned that France is “on the verge of revolt” and believes his plan to slash 500,000 public sector jobs and increase working hours is the tonic needed to kickstart the economy.

Jean-Yves Camus, an associate researcher at the Institute for worldwide and Strategic Relations, said Fillon might have to soften his programme and tack towards the centreground.

“In life, you must sacrifice in order to obtain good results”.

The victory for Mr Fillon, who is married to a Welsh woman, comes against a national unemployment rate of 10%, weak economic growth, worries about immigration and globalisation and concern about the future of a costly but valued welfare state.

He has taken a hard line on Islam, saying the religion must eradicate radicalism, after terror attacks have left 230 dead in France in the past two years.

French Polynesia’s president Edouard Fritch says he is alarmed at part of the programme of François Fillon, who won the Republicans’ primaries for next year’s French presidential election. On Sunday, Fillon succeed in winning the nomination of his party in the final round of the primaries. The conservatives previously chose their candidate internally.

It wants truth and it wants action.

“I will defend those values, and we will share them with everyone that loves France”.