Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Home
Business
Business Home
Economy
Technology
Media
Small Business
Green Business
Legal
Deals
Earnings
Summits
Business Video
Markets
Markets Home
U.S. Markets
European Markets
Asian Markets
Global Market Data
Indices
M&A
Stocks
Bonds
Currencies
Commodities
Futures
Funds
peHUB
World
World Home
U.S.
Brazil
China
Euro Zone
Japan
Mexico
Russia
Afghan Journal
Africa Journal
India Insight
Global News Journal
Pakistan: Now or Never?
World Video
Politics
Politics Home
Front Row Washington
Politics Video
Technology
Technology Home
MediaFile
Science
Tech Video
Opinion
Opinion Home
Chrystia Freeland
Felix Salmon
Jack Shafer
Breakingviews
David Rohde
Bernd Debusmann
Gregg Easterbrook
Nader Mousavizadeh
James Saft
David Cay Johnston
Edward Hadas
Christopher Whalen
Ian Bremmer
Mohamed El-Erian
Lawrence Summers
The Great Debate
Unstructured Finance
Newsmaker
Money
Money Home
Analyst Research
Global Investing
MuniLand
Reuters Money
John Wasik
Alerts
Watchlist
Portfolio
Stock Screener
Fund Screener
Personal Finance Video
Life & Culture
Health
Sports
Arts
Faithworld
Business Traveler
Left Field
Entertainment
Oddly Enough
Lifestyle Video
Pictures
Pictures Home
Reuters Photographers
Full Focus
Video
Article
Comments (0)
Full Focus
Photos of the week
Our top photos from the past week. Full Article
Follow Reuters
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
YouTube
Read
Syrian forces fire at mourners, battle defectors
15 Oct 2011
Discussed
241
Who’s behind the Wall St. protests?
148
Alabama immigration law decried, applauded as some flee state
132
Hank Williams Jr. lashes out at media in new song
Watched
Japanese airline, ANA, apologises for plane flip
Fri, Sep 30 2011
Rihanna's "inappropriate" outfit halts music video
Tue, Sep 27 2011
China : what is a "hard landing"?
Sun, Oct 9 2011
French left picks presidential runner, Hollande favoured
Tweet
Share this
Email
Print
Related News
French Strauss-Kahn sex assault probe dropped
Thu, Oct 13 2011
Hollande targets banks as French primary looms
Thu, Oct 13 2011
Romney leads GOP race, Cain second: Reuters/Ipsos
Wed, Oct 12 2011
Royal backs ex-partner Hollande in French primary
Wed, Oct 12 2011
Candidates say they will not veer left to win French primary
Tue, Oct 11 2011
Analysis & Opinion
Peel faster if you wanna be president!
The former governor factor
Related Topics
World »
Francois Hollande, one of the two Socialist Party presidential primary election candidates in France, speaks at a political rally in Paris, October 13, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Charles Platiau
By Brian Love
PARIS |
Sat Oct 15, 2011 8:45pm EDT
PARIS (Reuters) - French left-wingers vote on Sunday to designate the presidential candidate whose mission will be to unseat Nicolas Sarkozy in an election next year, and the favorite is Francois Hollande, a moderate Socialist Party veteran little known beyond France.
In a U.S.-style primary, the first of its kind in France, voters choose between Hollande, who has never held a national government post, and Martine Aubry, one-time labor minister, architect of France's 35-hour week and daughter of the former European Commission President Jacques Delors.
Opinion polls give Hollande a lead of six percentage points over Aubry in a ballot that decides which of the two will run in a presidential contest that the Socialists have not won since Francois Mitterand was re-elected in 1988.
The polls suggest French voters are ready to put the left back in power after five years of conservative Sarkozy, who is unpopular but widely expected to seek another five-year term.
The left's runaway favorite to become president had been former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn but his IMF career and presidential hopes were halted when he was arrested in New York in May on charges of sexually assaulting a hotel maid. The charges have since been dropped.
The ease with which Hollande and Aubry have filled his shoes suggests that many voters are simply weary of Sarkozy and his economic policies.
Sunday's voting at 10,000 polling stations will close at 1700 GMT. Preliminary results are expected a few hours later.
CONCILIATORY NOTE
Hollande and Aubry sparred in the days before the primary but Aubry seized on France's World Cup rugby semi-final win over Wales to sound a conciliatory note ahead of Sunday's vote.
"When it's time for the post-match session, everyone parties together," she told reporters. "That's how it'll be on Monday."
She dismissed polls that show Hollande scoring 53 percent of the vote to her 47 percent, preferring to highlight declarations of support from several prominent environmentalist politicians.
In a primary inspired by the momentum that carried Barack Obama to the White House, the Socialist Party has organised a two-round contest where anyone who pays a euro and declares allegiance to left-wing values can vote.
More than 2.6 million people voted in the first-round last Sunday, when anti-globalisation hard-liner Arnaud Montebourg scored a surprise 17 percent.
Hollande, who promised in the ensuing days to crack down on banks and financial market excess, has consolidated his position versus Aubry by securing the support of the four contenders knocked out in round one, including Montebourg.
Hollande, seen by many as more center-left, won 39 percent of the first-round vote, versus 30 percent for Aubry, often labeled as a more old-school Socialist. The four candidates knocked out -- including Segolene Royal, Hollande's former companion and mother of his four children -- got close to 30 percent.
But both Hollande and Aubry share the main tenets of a Socialist Party manifesto that promises to scrap 50 billion euros of tax breaks that mostly went to the wealthy under Sarkozy, using half of this money to fund state jobs and promote growth, with the rest to cut the deficit.
Sarkozy, who took power in 2007 after 12 years of Jacques Chirac, has yet to declare a re-election bid.
Opinion polls show him trailing either Hollande or Aubry in the election which takes place in two rounds on April 22 and May 6, followed weeks later by a parliamentary election.
(Reporting By Brian Love; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
World
Tweet this
Link this
Share this
Digg this
Email
Reprints
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (0)
Be the first to comment on reuters.com.
Add yours using the box above.
Social Stream (What's this?)
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Back to top
Reuters.com
Business
Markets
World
Politics
Technology
Opinion
Money
Pictures
Videos
Site Index
Legal
Bankruptcy Law
California Legal
New York Legal
Securities Law
Support & Contact
Contact Us
Advertise With Us
Connect with Reuters
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
RSS
Podcast
Newsletters
Mobile
About
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider
An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution
A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance
Our next generation legal research platform
Our global tax workstation
Thomsonreuters.com
About Thomson Reuters
Investor Relations
Careers
Contact Us
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.