Francois Hollande won a clear lead in the first round of the French left's presidential primary Sunday but not enough votes to avoid a second round run-off, according to partial results.
With around two thirds of votes counted, Hollande, a former Socialist party leader, had 39 percent, ahead of the creator of France's 35-hour work week Martine Aubry on 30 percent and anti-globalist Arnaud Montebourg on 17 percent.
Hollande's former partner, defeated 2007 Socialist presidential candidate Segolene Royale, was trailing in fourth on around seven percent, ahead of free market pragmatist Manuel Valls on five, according to the Socialist Party. The only non-Socialist in the race, Jean-Michel Baylet of the Radical Party of the Left was coming last with one percent, with 1,322,327 votes counted. Party leaders have estimated turnout at between 1.5 and two million.
If no candidates wins more than 50 percent the top two - probably Hollande and Aubry - will compete in a run-off in a week's time to decide who faces right-wing incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy in next April's presidential race.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.